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THE  GOLDEN  POT 


BAIN 


10,1  ,    -2,0 

LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,  N.  J. 

Presented  by 

Herbe-r-i-  AdcTime  &iDoons. 

RX    9178    .B34    G6    1S98 
BainVjohn  Wallace,    1833- 

1910. 
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THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


uCT  1    1920 


BY    THE 


Rev.  JOHN  W.  BAIN, 

Pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church, 

Altoona,  Pa. 


"  ^be  goIOcn  pot  tbat  baD  manna," 

Hebrews  ix:  4. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 

JOHN  MCGILL  WHITE  &  CO., 
1338  Chestnut  Street. 


Copyright,  i8g8, 

BY 

JOHN  McGILL  WHITE  &  CO. 


This  book  is,  at  least  in  one  respect,  like 
"the  golden  pot"  after  which  it  is  named.  The 
possession  of  that  entire  vessel,  however  valuable 
its  material,  would  enrich  no  one,  but  to  appro- 
priate its  contents  would  enrich  any  soul  beyond 
compare.  So  to  buy  this  book  will  impoverish 
no  one,  nor  its  possession,  a  mere  book,  however 
acceptable  the  material  and  work,  will  enrich  no 
one,  but  to  appropriate  and  use  its  contents,  I 
believe  will  enrich  the  soul.  For  this  reason  it  is 
issued  to  readers.  The  Author. 


"The  Golden  Pot  That  Had  Manna." 

^^  The  golden  pot  that  had  manna,'^  Hebrews  ix:  4. 

In  Exodus  Moses  does  not  tell  us  of  what  material 
this  pot  was  made,  but  Paul  here — directed  by  the 
Holy  Spirit — tells  us  it  was  golden — bright,  durable,, 
precious  gold.  The  Spirit  surely  had  a  reason  for 
giving  us  this  fact.  The  value  of  the  material  only 
implies  that  the  contents  are  more  precious  and  price- 
less. Suppose  you  were  shown  a  casket  of  curious,, 
elegant,  elaborate  workmanship,  embellished  with  all 
manner  of  precious  stones,  dazzling  bright  with  the 
purest  diamonds:  you  might  admire  its  workmanship, 
costliness,  ornaments  and  beauty,  but  would  you  not 
have  an  intense  desire  to  see  its  contents?  Such  a 
casket  must  surely  contain  something  surpassing  the 
great  Kohinoor,  the  mountain  of  light,  for  the  con- 
tents are  always  supposed  to  be  more  precious  than 
the  vessel.  So  it  is  here.  What  did  the  pot  contain? 
Manna.  What!  Nothing  but  manna?  That  which 
became  loathed  by  the  Israelites  as  stale,  dry  bread? 
Yes,  only  manna.  But  a  thing  is  not  less  precious 
because  some  undervalued  it.  Some  esteem  the 
purest  Gospel  ministry  as  stale  bread;  this  does  not 
make  it  less  precious.     So  with  this  manna. 

Let  us  notice  a  few  things  concerning  it.  First. 
God  provided  it.  No  mortal,  no  human  wisdom,  ever 
yet  discovered  what  it  was,  how  provided  or  prepared. 
Second.  In  love  God  gave  it  to  sustain  the  lives  of  the 
Israelites   in   their   desert  journey.     And   could   they 


10  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

"have  washed  gold  in  abundance  from  the  mountain 
gorges  around  them,  or  gathered  purest,  brightest 
diamonds  along  the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea,  yet  when 
they  were  starving  they  would  not  have  exchanged 
this  m.anna  for  them  all;  therefore  it  was  the  most 
precious  thing  to  them.  Third.  God  provided  it  in 
.abundance,  superabundance  for  them  all,  and  rained 
it  all  around  them  as  long  as  they  needed  it. 

But  what  did  it  typify?  You  remember  our  Lord 
.said,  "Man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every 
word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God."  This 
represented  something  better  than  mere  bread;  it 
represented  that  upon  which  the  soul  could  feed. 
Our  Saviour  tells  us  it  represented  the  bread  of 
Tieaven,  the  bread  of  life.  It  typified  Jesus,  and  the 
infinite,  sovereign  mercy,  love  and  grace  which  God 
provided  in  Him,  that  men  might  live  upon  it;  that 
.sinful  men  might  live  upon  it  through  all  the  journey 
•of  earth,  then  live  forever  upon  it.  Then  we  need  it, 
•quite  as  much  as  the  Jews  needed  the  manna  of  their 
day;  nay,  more  do  we  need  what  it  typified,  and  must 
perish  without  it — then  it  must  be  most  precious. 
Has  God  prepared  any  manna  for  us?  As  Aaron  laid 
this  up  in  a  golden  pot,  has  God  in  any  golden  vessel 
prepared  and  laid  up  manna  for  us?  Yes,  praise  be  to 
His  name.  Thanks  for  His  grace  and  providing  love, 
He  has  laid  up  provision  for  us  for  time  and  for 
eternity.  To-day  we  propose  simply  to  notice  where 
•or  in  what  vessels  God  has  laid  up  our  manna. 

First.  The  Word  of  God,  the  Bible,  is  a  golden  pot 
that  has  manna.  This  distinguishes  it  from  every 
other  book  on  earth,  makes  it  precious  above  all 
others.  As  a  mere  vessel,  its  material  is  golden.  It 
contains  history  golden  for  its  value,  being  the  most 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  ii 

ancient  and  authentic.  With  the  panoramic  vivid- 
ness of  an  eye-witness,  it  gives  us  a  record  of  what 
none  but  a  divine  or  inspired  mind  ever  saw ;  it  takes 
us  back  to  the  "beginning,"  when  "the  morning  stars 
sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for 
joy;"  when  light  broke  forth  from  the  presence  of 
God  upon  creation,  when  the  sun  was  kindled  in 
heaven,  and  the  moon  was  appointed  her  place;  when 
the  firmament  was  spread  out  as  a  curtain,  and  the 
world  was  founded  upon  the  deep;  when  the  earth  was 
formed  and  beautified  to  be  inhabited,  man  was 
created  upon  it,  and  Time  began  its  course.  It  tells 
us  of  the  fall,  and  the  cause  of  that  fearful  wreck,  and 
ruin,  and  fall  so  terrible  it  shook  earth  to  its  center, 
and  the  crash  sounded  through  all  the  universe  of 
God.  But  it  has  also  golden  prophecies  that,  like 
■"the  rosy  fingers  of  dawn,"  point  to  a  full  noon-tide 
day  of  recovery,  and  point  on  to  the  golden  consum- 
mation in  the  golden  streets  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 
It  has  in  it  golden  biographies.  Besides  that  of  the 
Son  of  God,  it  has  biographies  of  the  most  illustrious 
personages  of  earth,  whose  lives  of  faith,  and  fidelity, 
and  hope,  and  purity,  and  joy,  and  strength,  are  a 
priceless  legacy  to  mankind.  It  contains  a  golden 
law,  civil,  sanitary,  judicial,  moral,  spiritual  and 
eternal — a  law  "holy,  just  and  good,"  the  foundation 
of  all  wise  earthly  legislation,  an  infallible  guide  in 
every  relation,  duty  and  position  of  life.  It  has  a 
golden  narrative  of  events  the  most  marvellous  and 
important,  and  stories  exceeding  the  imagination  of 
romance  or  the  fascinations  of  any  fancy  sketch.  It 
has  a  golden  philosophy  of  life,  and  arguments  in  de- 
fence of  trt!th,  justice  and  purity,  surpassing  all  mere 
human  logic  and  reasoning,  in  value.     It  has  golden 


12  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

songs  of  praise  worthy  of  an  angel's  tongue  or  the 
harps  of  the  redeemed.  It  has  a  golden  poetry  and 
eloquence  running  through  it  from  beginning  to  end. 
In  the  first  mere  fiat  of  light,  in  Judah's  speech  for 
Benjamin,  in  the  lyrics  of  King  David,  the  seraphic 
prophecies  of  Isaiah,  the  mystical  grandeur  of  Ezeldel, 
the  graphic,  creative  Joel,  the  lofty  argument  of  Paul, 
the  tenderness  of  John,  and  the  dazzling  glory  of 
heaven  opened  in  Revelation,  there  is  poetry  unrivaled 
or  unequaled  in  any  other  book  or  language  among 
men.  It  has  golden  parables,  unique,  rich  in  truth, 
and  of  surpassing  beauty.  It  has  a  golden  rule  of 
world-wide  application,  just  and  perfect  as  the  mea- 
suring rule  of  the  upper  temple.  But  all  this,  unparal- 
leled history,  perfect  legislation,  true  sublimity,  ex- 
quisite beauty,  pure  morality,  finest  poetry  and 
eloquence  of  the  book,  is  but  the  precious  material 
of  the  golden  vessel.  Its  highest  excellence,  its  price- 
less value,  is  that  it  has  manna  in  it.  Food  God  pre- 
pared, sent  from  heaven,  food  to  feed  the  soul;  the 
guilty,  needy,  starving  soul.  Aaron  could  make  the 
golden  vessel,  but  God  alone  could  provide  and  pre- 
pare the  manna  it  contained.  Human  wisdom  and 
learning  might  provide  a  book  of  literary  excellence, 
of  history,  law,  philosophy,  morality,  poetry,  eloquence 
and  song,  and  call  it  a  golden  legend;  but  all  human 
wisdom  and  learning  could  not  put  the  manna  into  it 
the  Bible  contains,  food  for  the  life  of  the  soul.  Why? 
Because  all  human  wisdom  and  learning  could  not 
tell  who  or  what  God  is;  they  could  not  find  out  the 
Almighty,  nor  the  perfections  of  the  Holy  One.  They 
knew  not  His  name  nor  His  Son's  name.  They  could 
not  discover  His  unity,  spirituality,  holiness,  justice, 
or  grace;  could  not  tell  that  "He  is  a  Spirit,  infinite. 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


15 


•eternal,  and  unchangeable  in  being,  wisdom,  power, 
holiness,  justice,  and  truth."  The  world  by  wisdom 
knew  not  God,  and  for  want  of  this  knowledge  the 
race  was  suffering  and  perishing  from  off  the  earth, 
-and  must  forever  perish.  They  could  not  tell  that 
He  had  a  Son,  an  only  and  well-beloved  Son;  much 
Jess  tell  that  this  Son  would  assume  human  nature, 
"the  likeness  of  sinful  fiesh,"  to  suffer  and  die  in 
His  love  for  men.  They  could  not  tell  with  assured 
■certainty  man's  origin,  nor  sinful  man's  perishing 
need,  nor  could  they  answer  this  question,  "When  he 
gives  up  the  spirit,  where  is  he?"  They  could  not 
tell  how  sin  could  be  pardoned,  the  guilty  justified, 
purified  and  crowned  with  eternal  life  and  glory,  yet 
.sin  condemned,  truth  confirmed,  law  magnified,  jus- 
tice satisfied,  and  God  glorified.  They  could  not  find 
a  channel  through  which  free,  rich,  sovereign  mercy 
and  grace  could  flow  out  upon  a  rebellious,  ruined 
world.  The  Bible  alone  could  tell  us  of  God's  un- 
speakable gift,  that  He  "so  loved  the  world  that  He 
gave  His  only  begotten  Son,"  sent  Him  into  the  world 
a  suitable,  sufiFicient  Saviour  of  sinners;  that  in  Him 
God  provided  a  divine  righteousness  for  men,  pardon 
for  the  guilty  and  cleansing  for  the  unclean.  That 
there  is  life  in  Him  for  the  condemned,  mercy  for 
the  most  sinful,  hope  for  the  most  hopeless,  love  for 
the  most  unworthy,  and  grace  so  rich  it  can  purify 
the  polluted  soul,  put  peace  into  the  conscience,  joy 
into  the  heart,  and  a  crown  of  eternal  life  and  glory 
upon  the  brow  of  the  risen — all  this  the  gift  of  God's 
love  through  the  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Bible  alone  could  tell.  This  is  the  manna  God  put 
into  His  book,  this  golden  urn,  to  feed  the  life  of  the 
soul  in  its  wilderness  journey;  angel's  food,  heavenly 


14 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


bread.  This  is  that  part  of  the  Bible  man  could  have 
no  share  in  making,  no  more  than  the  Israelites  had  in. 
making  their  manna.  This  is  not  discovered  but 
revealed  truth;  no  wisdom  of  man  could  ever  find  it 
out,  no  power  of  imagination  could  ever  conceive  of 
such  love  and  mercy,  or  dream  of  such  a  way  of 
life  and  happiness  for  the  guilty  and  miserable  of 
earth.  Aaron  only  laid  this  up  that  their  children 
might  see  the  food  that  fed  their  fathers,  but  God,  in. 
His  love,  put  the  manna  of  His  grace  and  truth,  which 
came  by  Jesus  Christ,  into  the  imperishable  golden, 
urn  of  the  Scriptures,  not  only  that  we  might  see  the 
heavenly  food  that  fed  our  fathers,  but  that  we  might 
feed  on  the  same  royal  provision,  and  our  children 
and  children's  children  to  the  latest  generation  might 
eat  of  this  bread  of  heaven  and  live  forever.  This  is 
the  precious  treasure  of  our  Bibles;  it  is  this  sets  it 
in  value  above  rubies,  which  would  make  us  buy  it 
at  any  price,  but  sell  it  at  none;  that  which  makes 
it  the  book  of  life  to  us.  And  no  other  vessel  on  earth 
contains  manna  so  pure,  so  abundant  and  free  as  this 
golden  urn  of  the  Scriptures.  ''Come  ye,  buy  and 
eat,"  etc.  But  there  are  other  golden  vessels  on 
earth  that  have  manna. 

Second.  The  Gospel  ministry  is  a  golden  pot  that 
has  manna;  and  it  must  have  this  to  be  a  Gospel  min- 
istry. The  ministry  may  be  learned,  profound,  poeti- 
cal and  eloquent;  may  be  philosophical,  scientific  and 
brilliant,  yet  only  a  golden  vessel,  but  no  manna  in  it. 
It  may  be  gilded  and  bedizened  with  all  the  attrac- 
tions of  art,  architecture  and  music  about  it;  it  may 
be  entertaining,  popular  and  applauded,  yet  have  no 
manna.  The  schools  may  furnish  it  with  all  the 
garniture  of  classic  elegance  in  diction  and  rhetoric. 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  15 

with  the  intellectual  polish  and  penetration  of  the 
keenest  dialectics,  with  all  the  art  and  power  of 
trained  oratory,  and  provision  it  with  all  the  wealth 
and  abundance  of  the  soundest  and  profoundest  the- 
ological knowledge;  the  schools  may  make  such  a 
golden  vessel,  but  they  can  put  no  manna  in  it.  Yet 
the  ministry  which  feeds  the  life  of  souls  and  nourishes 
them  to  a  pure,  healthful,  strong,  Christian  manhood,, 
that  conquers  in  the  conflict  with  evil,  must  have 
Gospel  manna  in  it.  The  ministry  which  feeds  the 
Church  of  God,  till,  like  the  vine  brought  out  of 
Egypt,  it  has  boughs  like  the  goodly  cedar,  and  her 
shadow  covers  the  hills,  and  the  handful  of  corn  on 
the  mountain  top  shakes  with  fruit  like  Lebanon,  the 
ministry  that  effects  this  must  have  in  it  the  manna  of 
Christ's  divine  righteousness  for  men,  His  cleansing 
blood,  His  quickening  Spirit,  His  sustaining  love  and 
eternal  glory. 

Peter  preached  at  Pentecost  and  three  thousand 
were  converted,  and  in  a  few  days  we  read  of  five 
thousand  more,  and  such  was  the  power  of  his  min- 
istry and  that  of  his  fellow-apostles  they  were  accused 
of  "turning  the  world  upside  down."  Why?  Be- 
cause their  ministry  had  manna  in  it.  Paul's  ministry 
moved  all  Asia  and  startled  the  Roman  empire  with 
the  fear  that  he  would  empty  all  her  heathen  temples 
and  starve  her  idol  gods.  Why?  Because  it  had 
Christ,  His  truth  and  grace — had  manna  in  it.  What 
made  the  preaching  of  Chrysostom  the  light  and 
power  of  Syria  and  Constantinople?  It  was  not  the 
rhetoric  he  learned  of  Libanius  the  Sophist,  nor  the 
Greek  philosophy  taught  him  by  Andragathius ;  it 
was  not  his  personal  magnetism,  for  his  hollow  cheeks, 
sunken  eyes,  bald  head,  and  small  stature  remind  us 


26  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

-of  Paul's  description  of  himself,  "in  presence  weak;" 
it  was  not  because  he  was  a  golden  mouthed  orator, 
but  because  his  ministry  was  a  golden  vessel  that  had 
manna.  For  twelve  years  that  strong,  scholarly, 
Scotch  orator,  Chalmers,  preached  with  all  his  intel- 
lectual energy  and  earnestness,  yet  himself  confessed 
he  knew  of  no  souls  renewed  or  nourished.  He  could 
hold  his  hearers  as  by  a  spell  of  Scotch  witchery  as 
he  portrayed  in  gorgeous  imagery  the  glory  of  the 
visible  heavens  and  the  wisdom  and  goodness  that 
filled  the  earth;  or  while  he  denounced  in  language 
terrible  and  scathing  the  guilt  and  meanness  of  vice; 
but  he  brought  neither  life  to  the  soul  nor  anything  to 
feed  its  life.  Why?  Because  his  preaching  was  lack- 
ing in  Gospel  manna.  That  is  shown  by  this  fact, 
that  soon  after  it  became  a  Gospel  ministry,  Tron 
Church  echoed  with  the  gladdening  birth-cry  of  souls. 
What  made  the  preaching  of  Guthrie  the  glory  of 
Edinboro?  Not  his  picturesque  word  painting,  rich 
imagery,  brilliant  rhetoric,  and  fascinating  eloquence, 
but  that  his  ministry  was  rich  in  Gospel  manna. 
Spurgeon  said,  he  wore  no  pulpit  livery,  used  no  deep- 
toned  organ,  with  thundering  sound,  and  no  operatic 
choir,  neither  made  any  efifort  at  oratory,  yet  no  man 
in  great  London  fed  so  many  souls  as  he,  both  inside 
and  outside  his  great  tabernacle,  because  his  ministry 
was  a  golden  vessel  with  scarcely  anything  but  Gospel 
m.anna  in  it.  During  the  great  awakening  in  Etigland 
in  the  days  of  the  VVesleys  and  Whitefield,  and  of 
Scotland  in  the  days  of  Livingstone,  William  Burns, 
and  McCheyne:  and  in  our  American  revivals  of  the 
early  part  of  this  century  under  Whitefield,  Edwards 
and  the  Tennants — and  all  revivals  since — nothing  dis- 
tinguished the  preaching  so  much  as  the  purity  and 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  17 

abundance  of  manna,  from  the  great  evangelical  truths 
that  run  through  all  the  symbols  of  the  Levitical  law, 
through  all  the  predictions  of  inspired  prophets,  and 
culminated  in  their  glory  round  the  cross  of  Calvary, 
the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  the  pure  manna  of  the 
Gospel.  This  v/as  the  fruit  of  the  Church  when 
driven  into  the  wilderness  in  the  valleys  of  Piedmont, 
and  "on  the  Alpine  Mountains  cold,"  and  in  the  glens 
of  the  Swiss  cantons;  there  the  Waldenses,  Albigenses 
and  Vaduoi  were  fed  and  lived  upon  this  manna  from 
the  golden  urn  of  the  ministry,  by  pastor  Arnaud  and 
other  heroic  leaders  like  him.  It  was  this  manna  in 
the  preaching  of  Wycklifle  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
Huss  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  of  Luther  and 
Knox,  that  gave  the  dead  to  feel  the  power  of  resur- 
rection life  through  Jesus  Christ.  The  men  and 
women  of  all  the  heroic  ages  of  the  past  who  have 
mapped  out  civilized  kingdoms  on  earth,  reared 
thrones  of  righteous  judgment  for  men,  and  built 
bulwarks  against  encroaching  despotism,  who  have 
borne  unflinchingly  the  assaults  of  civil  and  religious 
tyranny,  sacrificed  all,  suffered  and  died  for  the  honor 
of  God,  the  freedom  and  welfare  of  man,  have  fed 
their  life  and  strength  on  this  Gospel  manna.  The 
men  and  women  who  have  kept  alive  a  heavenly  hope 
on  earth,  who  have  preserved  and  perpetuated  the 
Christian  family.  Sabbath,  society  and  home,  were 
led  by  Immanuel,  and  maintained  their  battle  strength 
on  the  manna  from  the  golden  urn  of  his  ministry. 
You  may  say,  I  seem  to  "magnify  mine  ofifice."  Be 
it  so.  The  honor  is  the  Master's,  not  the  man  or  the 
minister's,  for  all  the  greatness,  life,  power  and  glory 
of  this  office  and  work  is  in  proportion  to  the  purity 
and  abundance  of  this  manna  in  it.     Just  in  proportion 


1 8  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

as  Jesus  and  His  atoning,  cleansing  blood;  Jesus  and 
His  divine  righteousness;  Jesus  and  His  sovereign 
mercy  and  matchless  love,  pervade  the  ministry,  will 
it  have  power  to  bring  life  to  souls  dead  in  sin,  and 
maintain  and  nourish  Christian  life  on  earth.  Let 
the  ministry  have  all  the  culture  and  power  that  can 
be  had  by  the  most  careful  intellectual  training,  by 
the  help  of  literature  and  classical  learning,  of  phil- 
osophy and  science;  let  it  be  enriched  with  the 
soundest  theological  knowledge;  let  it  be  indeed  a 
golden  vessel,  yet  it  will  never  convince,  convert  and 
save  souls  and  evangelize  and  reform  society  unless 
it  be  a  golden  vessel  filled  with  Gospel  manna. 

Third.  Another  vessel  that  has  manna  is  the  Chris- 
tian heart  and  life.  When  the  Lord  takes  possession 
of  any  one,  He  sends  His  quickening  Spirit  into  the 
soul,  then  begins  in  it  a  spiritual  divine  life;  He  sheds 
abroad  His  love  in  the  heart,  anchors  the  soul  in  hope 
upon  Himself,  causes  it  to  rejoice  in  His  royal  favor, 
feeds  it  upon  His  great  and  precious  promises,  sus- 
tains and  strengthens  it  by  His  grace  and  fills  it  with 
heavenly  good  things.  This  is  the  manna  with  which 
He  filleth  the  empty,  and  satisfieth  the  longing, 
hungry  soul.  And  this  only  can  fill  and  satisfy  an 
immortal  soul,  and  nothing  else  is  worthy  of  such  a 
being  as  was  created  and  crowned  by  the  wisdom  and 
power  of  God.  The  mind  and  heart  of  man  as  it 
came  from  the  hand  of  its  Creator,  and  was  endowed 
by  Him,  is  the  most  glorious  of  His  works  on  earth, 
and  makes  man  a  worthy  prince  regent  of  the  material 
w^orld.  Matter,  in  any  and  all  its  combinations  and 
refinements,  bears  no  comparison  to  the  soul  in  its 
excellency;  even  fallen,  wretched  and  stained  by  sin, 
the  soul  is  kingly  in  its  wondrous  powers  of  intellect, 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


19 


reason  and  fancy,  filled,  strengthened  and  adorned 
with  knowledge.  The  soul — the  sinful  soul — so  far 
from  being  matter,  or  having  any  kindred  or  compari- 
son to  matter,  our  Saviour  sets  in  value  above  the 
whole  material  world:  "What  is  a  man  profited  if 
he  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  soul?"  Such 
a  soul  so  endowed  in  creation  may  be  a  golden  vessel, 
"but  it  has  no  manna  to  feed  upon  itself  or  with  which 
to  feed  others.  It  contains  nothing  worthy  of  itself 
so  long  as  it  shuts  out  its  Lord,  and  nothing  can  fill 
or  satisfy  it.  Enlarge  any  sinful  soul  even  beyond 
Solomon's  heart,  fill  it  with  all  his  learning,  wit  and 
wisdom,  enrich  its  life  with  all  the  royal  provision,  art, 
ornaments  an3  delights  of  his  wealth,  yet,  like  him,  it 
will  at  last  cry  out,  "Vanity  of  vanities,  saith  the 
preacher;  all  is  vanity."  But  this  guilty  soul  increases 
incalculably  in  worth,  becomes  the  most  excellent 
being  on  earth,  when  it  is  washed  in  cleansing  blood, 
adorned  with  the  jewels  of  truth,  filled  and  beautified 
with  images  of  love;  then  it  becomes  the  habitation 
of  its  Lord.  It  has  then  become  a  royal  palace, 
abundantly  supplied  for  a  siege;  and  all  the  foes  of 
earth  and  hell  may  encamp  against  it,  and  sit  down 
in  siege  before  it,  but  the  Redeemer  has  become  a 
wall  of  fire  round  about  it,  as  well  as  the  glory  in  the 
midst,  and  it  can  sit  and  sing  songs  of  triumph  within 
its  provisioned  fortress  walls.  Paul  says  such  a  soul 
can  glory  even  in  tribulation.  It  is  like  Luther's  Irttle 
bird,  sitting  on  the  bough  at  eventide,  its  head  beneath 
its  wing,  leaves  its  cares  with  God.  When  darkness 
comes  to  such  a  soul,  it  is  only  as  the  coming  of  an 
Italian  night,  which  reveals  beauties  and  splendors 
that  could  not  be  seen  at  noon-day.  Or,  as  Jean 
Ingelow  sweetly  sings: 


20  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

When  the  sun  withdraws  his  Hght, 

Lo!  the  stars  of  God  are  there; 
Present  hosts,  unseen  till  night, 

Matchless,  countless,  silent,  fair. 

Children,  oft  when  joy  shines  clear 

Lost  is  hold  of  hope  divine, 
When  the  night  of  grief  draws  near, 

Then  God's  countless  comforts  shine. 

As  its  darkness  deep  outbars 

All  things  else,  they  start  to  view; 

Mercies,   countless  as  the  stars. 

Matchless,  changeless,  perfect,  true. 

There  is  nothing  so  precious  on  earth  as  the  golden 
urn  of  a  heart  filled  with  manna.  But  the  manna  is 
not  put  into  a  Christian  heart  to  be  used  only  for  self. 
That  which  Aaron  laid  up  was  only  to  look  at,  but 
that  in  the  heart  is  to  feed  self  and  others.  As  the 
Israelite  was  to  gather  manna  for  others  beside  him- 
self, so  the  manna  of  the  heart  is  for  others  also. 
Daniel,  the  captive,  became  the  wise  and  pure  politi- 
cian, the  upright  statesman,  the  prime  minister  and 
president  in  a  great  empire,  and  fed  his  captive  people 
on  truth  and  hope,  made  their  bondage  easier  and 
happier,  and  fed  the  soul  of  his  royal  master,  Nebu- 
chadnezzar, on  heavenly  manna,  as  we  hope  and 
believe,  to  his  eternal  salvation.  Why?  Because  he 
had  manna  in  his  heart  and  life.  Hedly  Vicars,  in 
the  Crimea,  it  is  said,  "sobered  and  steadied  nigh  four 
hundred  of  the  drunkenmost  and  wildest  men  in  the 
regiment."  And  there  was  not  a  better  man  or  ol^cer 
in  the  queen's  service.  Why?  Because  of  the  Gospel 
manna  in  his  heart  and  life.  When  an  important  and 
perilous  assault  was  to  be  made,  the  British  general 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  21 

found  so  many  drunk  in  the  regiment  which  had  been 
ordered  it  was  unfit  for  use;  then  he  said,  "Call  Have- 
lock's  saints;  they  never  get  drunk."  Why  w^as  his 
regiment  sober,  faithful,  praying,  God-praising  sol- 
diers? Because,  as  Lord  Hardinge  said,  "General 
Havelock  was  every  inch  a  soldier,  and  every  inch 
a  Christian." 

By  the  manna  of  her  heart,  Sarah  Martin,  of  Great 
Yarmouth,  fed  the  neglected,  wretched  prisoners  of 
Yarmouth  jail,  not  only  the  bread  of  earth,  but  of 
heaven,  and  turned  the  prison  from  an  academy  of 
crime  to  a  school  of  religious  instruction  and  praise, 
and  began  the  great  enterprise  of  prison  reform  in 
her  native  land.  By  the  manna  of  her  soul,  Hannah 
Moore  made  Cowslip  Green  more  famous  than  by  all 
her  writings.  She  and  her  sister,  out  of  their  Gospel 
filled  urns,  fed  in  Cheddar  parish,  and  nine  neigh- 
boring parishes,  more  than  one  thousand  and  seven 
hundred  starving  souls  on  the  bread  of  life,  and  made 
what  had  been  a  stronghold  of  Satan  a  desirable 
dw-elling  place.  We  might  mention  others  there,  and 
numbers  almost  without  limit,  in  our  own  country. 
But,  as  Paul  says  of  his  catalogue  of  worthies,  "Time 
would  fail  me  to  tell,"  so  it  would  me  to  tell  of  the 
bounteous  work  of  manna-filled  souls.  A  thousand 
such  hearts  and  lives  in  any  city  of  our  land  is  a  far 
more  efficient  power  for  good  than  any  human  asso- 
ciation ever  devised,  and  will  bring  the  Divine  blessing 
upon  the  people  among  whom  they  labor.  Such 
golden  urns,  filled  with  Gospel  manna,  have  done 
more  to  reform  our  world,  to  purify,  enrich  and  make 
earth  happy,  than  all  the  classic  poetry  and  eloquence 
of  Athens  and  Rome,  than  all  the  sculpture  and  paint- 
ing of  Greece  and  Italy,  or  all  the  schools  of  phil- 
osophy   and    science    on    earth.     They  have  taught 


22  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

human  hearts  happier,  purer  songs  and  sweeter  music, 
than  all  the  famous  composers  of  Germany,  France 
or  Italy.  The  best  teachers  of  melody  and  the  true 
song-birds  of  earth  are  those  who  sing  of  Jesus  and 
His  love.  You  can  covet  no  better  gift  on  earth 
than  a  heart  filled  with  this  Gospel  manna.  Nothing 
can  make  you  more  useful  or  happy,  than  heart  and 
life  of  Gospel  manna  full. 

Fourth.  We  mention  now  but  one  more  place 
where  manna  is  laid  up  for  us,  that  is  in  "the  Holy 
of  Holies"  above,  the  New  Jerusalem,  the  golden  urn 
of  heaven.  The  soul  is  not  to  leave  its  provision 
behind,  that  provision  which  gave  and  sustained  its 
life  on  earth,  gave  it  strength  and  cheer  and  triumph 
on  the  way.  O,  no.  The  same  provision  awaits 
ahead  in  the  "prepared  place;"  it  only  goes  on  to  the 
fountain  head,  to  the  great,  unfailing  store-house  of 
the  royal  city.  And  the  chief  attraction,  the  most 
precious  possession,  the  joy  and  glory  of  that  "Better 
Land,"  is  its  manna.  It  is  not  the  pearly  gates  and 
jasper  walls,  garnished  with  all  manner  of  precious 
stones,  nor  the  sea  of  glass  nor  the  pure  golden  streets,, 
nor  the  throne  of  light,  or  the  white  robes  and  golden 
crowns,  nor  the  harps  and  palms  and  alleluia  songs — 
not  all  these  bright  and  pillared  glories  are  the  chief 
attraction.  These  are  but  the  precious  material,  and 
adorning  of  the  casket,  the  mere  outer-garniture  and 
glory  of  the  upper  temple.  It  is  not  because  loved 
friends,  brothers  and  sisters  long  since  gone,  are  there; 
not  because  mother  and  child,  parents  and  children  are 
there;  all  these  are  something  of  an  attraction,  yes, 
much,  very  much,  God  be  praised,  we  shall  know  and 
be  known  there.  But  that  which  towers  in  loving 
radiance  above  all  others  is,  He  who  is  the  manna 
of  the  place,  the  precious   Redeemer,  is  there;  the 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  23 

King-,  Immanuel;  and  we  shall  "behold  His  face," 
"we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is,  for  we  shall  be  like  Him." 
The  Psalmist  expresses  the  hope  of  the  soul  when  he 
exclaims,  "I  shall  be  satisfied  when  I  awake  with  Thy 
likeness."  "Whom  have  I  in  heaven  but  Thee?" 
And  Jean  Ingelow  sings  it  joyfully  in  these  lines: 

When  the  vail  is  rent  in  twain 

Shall  the  present  God  appear; 
We  shall  see  Him  then,  full,  fain — 

Matchless,  changeless,  perfect,  fair. 

His  immediate  presence  and  love  will  be  manna  to 
the  soul,  such  as  earth  never  tasted;  so  sweet  and  full 
the  earthy  portion  will  be  almost  forgotten.  Paul 
says,  "That  is  far  better."  That  will  make  the  eyes 
of  the  redeemed  strong  enough  to  look  undestroyed 
and  undazzled  into  the  face  of  uncreated  light  and 
love;  it  will  make  the  ears  of  the  redeemed  strong 
enough  to  bear  the  surging  tides  of  Alleluia  song, 
and  the  redeemed  heart  strong  enough  to  bear  the 
weight  of  eternal  glory  and  joy.  It  will  make  re- 
deemed hands  strong  for  all  divine  service,  and  re- 
deemed feet  able  to  walk  the  valleys  and  tread  the 
mountain  tops  of  Immanuel's  Land.  The  happiness 
of  the  redeemed  soul  may  be  to  speed  in  joyful  service 
through  the  unbounded  universe  of  creative  power, 
or  it  may  be  to  walk  or  stand  or  sit  in  that  kingly 
Presence;  yet,  everywhere  and  always  that  beloved 
Redeemer's  presence  and  His  love  will  be  the  happi- 
ness, strength  and  glory  of  the  soul's  eternal  life.  Oh, 
let  your  hearts  and  lives  be  golden  urns,  filled  with 
the  Gospel  manna  which  the  Lord  provides  and  offers 
here:  then  hereafter  you  shall  feed  forever  on  the 
unfailing  manna  of  His  unveiled  presence  and  love. 


II 

Christ  Coming  Over  the  Mountains. 

^^Tke  voice  of  my  Beloved !     Behold,   He  cometh  leaping  upon  the 
mountains,  skipping  upon  the  hills, ^^  Song  of  Solomon  ii:  8. 

Of  all  the  books  of  the  Bible,  perhaps  none  has 
been  so  sadly  misunderstood  by  the  cultivated  intellect, 
or  perverted  and  abused  by  the  corrupt  heart,  as  this 
Song  of.  Solomon.  McCheyne  speaks  of  two  kinds 
of  religionists  as  offended  with  this  song;  the  first  is 
he  whose  religion  is  all  of  the  head,  a  mere  masonry 
work  of  doctrines.  He  is  offended  because  it  con- 
tains no  formal  dogmatic  statements  upon  v/hich  his 
heartless  religion  may  be  built.  The  second  is  he 
whose  religion  is  all  of  the  fancy,  only  emotional.  He 
stumbles  at  the  mysterious  breathings  of  intimate  but 
intelligent  affection,  which  he  cannot  appreciate  nor 
understand.  But  if  one's  religion  be  both  in  the  head 
and  heart,  he  not  only  receives  the  truth,  but  receives 
it  in  love;  not  only  embraces  by  faith  the  doctrines 
of  Christ,  but  has  fellowship  in  love  with  Jesus,  such 
a  soul  will  see  through  the  dramatic  form  of  this  poem 
the  joyous  intercourse  of  the  Bride,  the  Church,  with 
the  Bridegroom,  her  Lord,  the  glad  love  breathings 
of  the  believing  soul  in  communion  with  the  beloved 
Redeemer.  This  poem  is  not  one  song,  but  several, 
all  taking  the  dramatic  form,  and  like  the  parables  of 
our  Lord,  they  present  the  most  precious  spirit  ef 
truth,  though  veiled  under  poetic  incident  and  im- 
agery. The  business  of  the  expositor  and  preacher 
is  to  take  off  the  veil  and  expose  the  unconcealed 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  25 

beauty  of  truth,  and  the  Saviour  through  the  truth. 
This  we  shall  try  to  do  with  the  dramatic  scene  of 
the  text. 

Look  at  the  person  here — a  woman,  a  sweetheart, 
bride  or  wife,  sitting  in  an  Eastern  kiosk  or  arbor, 
alone  and  desolate.  Though  surrounded  with  climb- 
ing vines  and  gilded  lattice  work,  fragrant  shrubbery 
and  sparkling  fountains,  yet  she  is  disconsolate! 
Why?  Because  her  lover,  her  husband,  is  away  be- 
yond the  distant  mountains,  which  in  the  last  verse 
she  calls  "Bether,"  or  the  mountains  of  separation. 
She  knows  that  rugged,  precipitous  heights,  gaping 
gulfs,  gloomy  gorges,  and  frowning  hills  lie  between 
them;  she  therefore  fears  that  her  beloved  cannot 
come,  or  will  be  long  in  coming.  But  in  the  midst 
of  her  desponding  thoughts  a  melodious  sound  breaks 
upon  her  ear.  She  knows  it  at  once  and  exclaims, 
"The  voice  of  my  Beloved!"  Rising  in  glad  surprise, 
she  looks  through  the  lattice  and  exclaims,  "Behold! 
He  Cometh,  leaping  upon  the  mountains,  skipping 
upon  the  hills!"  Here  the  writer  drops  the  curtain 
over  their  meeting  and  embrace,  for  it  is  a  joy  that 
no  stranger  may  intermeddle  with. 

NoAv  let  us  unveil  the  persons  and  imager3\  The 
woman,  the  Bride,  alone  in  the  arbor,  is  the  Church, 
or  the  individual  believer,  at  the  time  of  the  Lord's 
absence.  The  coming  Beloved  is  the  Divine  Re- 
deemer, for  whom  His  Church  and  people  long.  The 
mountains  called  "Bether,"  or  separation,  that  lie 
between  are  every  obstacle  that  prevents  reconciliation 
between  God  and  man,  their  fellowship  and  happiness 
together.  The  Beloved  leaping  upon  the  moimtains, 
skipping  upon  the  hills,  presents  Christ  overcoming; 
triumphantly  passing  every  difnculty.  and  com.ing  for 


26  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

the  salvation,  comfort  and  joy  of  His  Church  and 
people.  Then  we  have  three  points.  First.  What 
are  the  intervening  mountains  and  hills  between  God 
and  His  people?  Second.  How  does  Christ  pass, 
remove  or  come  over  them?  Third.  Why  does  He 
thus  come? 

First.  What  are  these  mountains  of  separation 
between  God  and  men?  The  first  is  the  mountain 
of  guilt.  Between  the  royal  palace  in  heaven  and 
the  Garden  of  Eden  there  was  neither  mountain  or 
hill ;  the  way  was  open,  the  King's  highway,  and  God 
and  man  could  walk  together  in  it.  But  the  sinful 
pair  were  driven  out  of  Paradise,  and  with  wicked 
hands  men  have  reared  a  lofty  mountain  of  guilt  in 
the  pathway  of  life.  The  Men  of  Babel  could  not 
build  a  tower  that  would  reach  unto  heaven,  but  men 
have  piled  up  a  mountain  whose  top  not  only  reaches 
above  the  clouds,  but  reaches  the  highest  heaven  and 
casts  its  dark  shadow  over  all  the  earth.  This  was 
the  first,  and,  at  first,  the  only  obstacle  that  separated 
God  and  the  human  race;  the  mountain  of  guilt.  Its 
jagged  sides  man  could  not  climb;  nor  scale  its 
heights;  and  the  just,  holy  King  would  not  run  a  royal 
road  around  the  base.  Therefore  the  prophet  says, 
"Your  iniquities  have  separated  between  you  and 
your  God,  and  your  sins  have  hid  His  face  from  you." 
There  it  stands,  frowning  on  the  earth,  shutting  out 
the  face  of  God,  blocking  up  the  gate  of  Eden,  and 
closing  the  door  of  heaven.  It  is  the  mountain  of 
guilt. 

Second  is  the  moimtain  of  justice.  Human  hands 
built  the  mountain  of  guilt,  but  the  Divine  hand  piled 
up  the  heights  of  justice.  When  man  cast  off  alle- 
giance  and   love   and   opened   rebellion   against   his 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  27 

Maker  and  King,  heaven  must  be  shut  up,  and  the 
port  of  earth  blockaded;  therefore,  the  hand  of  justice 
stretched  the  mountain  wall  across  the  plains  of  earth 
and  declared  this  rebellious  province  in  a  state  of 
siege.  The  Psalmist's  language  is,  "Thy  justice  is 
like  mountains  great."  There  it  stands  before  God 
and  men,  stern,  high  and  immovable.  Who  will  dare 
its  guarded  passes,  or  try  to  scale  its  solid  wall? 
Who  can  open  a  way  around  it  or  bow  its  lofty  sum- 
mit? Man  lies  condemned,  helpless  and  hopeless,  at 
the  base;  and  the  inflexibly  righteous  King  sits  en- 
throned upon  the  summit;  for  justice  and  judgment 
are  the  foundation  of  His  dwelling  place. 

Third  is  the  mountain  of  wrath.  When  Israel  came 
into  Canaan  land,  the  half  of  her  officers  and  priests, 
stood  over  against  Mt.  Gerizim,  to  pronounce  bless- 
ings upon  obedience.  The  other  half  over  against 
Mt.  Ebal,  to  pronounce  curses  upon  disobedience. 
For  when  man  sinned  and  rebelled  against  God, 
Divine  wrath  was  kindled  into  a  flame,  and  it  became 
a  mountain  of  fire,  leaping  angrily  up  to  heaven  and 
burning  down  to  the  lowest  depths.  Moses  says  it 
"burns  to  the  lowest  hell  and  setteth  on  fire  the 
foundations  of  the  mountains."  When  the  offended 
majesty  of  heaven  set  His  foot  on  Mt.  Sinai,  its  top 
was  girdled  with  flame  and  the  thunder  voice  of  law 
and  justice  shook  it  to  the  base.  For  justice  that 
would  not  be  angry  with  rebellion  and  sin,  would 
not  be  justice  at  all.  In  Revelation  we  are  told  of 
a  burning  mountain  cast  into  the  sea,  but  the  sea  did 
not  quench  it.  The  red  tongues  of  flame,  if  let  alone, 
could  soon  lick  up  the  great  billows  of  the  deep  and 
wrap  this  guilty  world  in  ruinous  conflagration.  This 
flaming  mountain  was  burning  in  the  place  of  human 


.28  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

habitation,  and  who  will  dare  to  pass  it,  or  who  can 
pour  out  floods  enough  to  quench  its  fires?  For 
wrath  has  gone  forth  against  the  sons  of  men. 

Fourth  is  the  mountain  of  darkness,  says  Isaiah 
Ix:  2.  The  prophet  Jeremiah  speaks  of  those  whose 
"feet  should  stumble  on  the  dark  mountains."  No 
light  shines  upon  its  black  summit  or  down  its  rugged 
-cavernous  sides.  From  out  its  deep  caves  comes  the 
smoke  and  blackness  of  darkness.  Its  awful  shadow 
shuts  out  from  earth  the  face  of  God,  and  lays  blinding 
night  on  the  hearts  and  minds  of  men.  There  gather 
the  povvcrs  of  darkness,  its  caverns  are  their  retreat, 
and  they  ambush  in  its  gloomy  gorges,  and  cast  their 
captives  and  slain  into  its  gaping  gulfs.  The  heathen 
world  to-day  is  stumbling  on  through  its  deep  shadow 
that  lies  all  along  their  cheerless  journey  of  life,  and 
its  pall  hangs  over  thousands  of  hearts  in  Christian 
lands.  Its  dark  shade  makes  men  of  understanding 
grope  like  the  blind.  Its  horrid  shadow  makes  the 
night  of  the  death  chamber  and  the  gloom  of  the 
grave.  All  the  gloom,  and  dread,  and  night,  and 
despair  of  earth  fall  upon  our  journey  of  life  from 
this  dark  mountain.  "For,  behold,  the  darkness  shall 
cover  the  earth,  and  gross  darkness  the  people:  but 
the  Lord  shall  arise  upon  thee,  and  His  glory  shall 
be  seen  upon  thee,"  Isaiah  Ix:  2.  Who  can  pass  over 
it  or  chase  its  night  away?  Philosopliers,  poets, 
scientists,  human  teachers  and  reformers  have  tried 
to  dispel  the  darkness  that  lifts  itself  betwixt  us  and 
heaven,  but  in  vain.  Their  feeble  torches  only  re- 
vealed the  darkness. 

We  v/ill  not  stop  to  speak  of  the  hills  of  Provoca- 
tion, Unbelief,  Pride  and  Self-righteousness,  which 
sinful  hands  placed  in  the  coming  Redeemer's  path. 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


29, 


But  through  such  a  mountain  region  there  must  be 
also  gloomy  forests,  narrow,  dangerous  defiles,  yawn- 
ing chasms,  gulfs  and  fearful  gorges,  made  more  awful 
by  the  covering  of  darkness  that  hangs  over  them, 
for  the  lurid  flames  of  wrath  is  all  the  light  that  falls 
upon  this  whole  mountain  road  between  heaven  and 
earth.  This  is  the  region  through  which  the  Beloved 
must  come.  Those  are  the  difficulties,  obstacles, 
perils  and  foes  He  must  encounter  and  overcome. 
What  wonder  the  Bride  is  despairing?  What  wonder 
if  the  question  troubles  her  heart,  "Can  He  pass 
through  this  wilderness,  cross  these  chasms,  leap^ 
these  gulfs,  climb  these  mountains,  conquer  these  foes 
and  come  to  me?  Can  He?"  What  wonder  if  doubt 
and  despondency  bordering  on  despair  enters  the 
human  heart  when  it  sees  the  way  between  heaven  and 
earth  piled  with  such  obstacles,  great,  insurmiountable 
difl-iculties,  appalling  dangers?  What  wonder  if  it 
questions  whether  even  the  Son  of  God  can  come  over 
this  way?  But  thanks  be  to  God,  we  know  He  can, 
we  know  He  has  come  over  this  very  region,  as  if  it 
were  an  unobstructed  plain. 

Second.  How  did  Christ,  the  Beloved,  come?  If 
you  should  journey  among  the  Alps,  the  guide  would 
present  you  with  a  staff,  to  make  sure  your  footing 
on  the  steep  sides,  to  enable  you  to  leap  over  the  deep 
gaps  that  might  open  across  your  path.  Without  this 
you  could  not  possibly  climb  the  Jura  or  Mount 
Blanc.  So  with  the  cross  as  the  staff  of  His  hand, 
Jesus  approached  these  mountains.  But  first  He 
must  consecrate,  sanctify,  give  virtue  and  power  to 
this  cross  by  dying  upon  it.  It  must  be  more  than 
a  common  mountain  staff;  it  must  be  a  magic  wand, 
surpassing    Moses'    rod.     He    must     do     wondrous,, 


_30  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

miraculous  things  with  it.  So,  "for  the  joy  that  was 
.set  before  Him,  He  endured  the  cross,  bore  our  sins 
in  His  own  body  on  this  tree."  Nailed  upon  it  as  a 
sacrifice,  He  suffered  there  and  died.  Then  rising 
from  this  death,  He  seizes  the  cross  in  His  hand  and 
•comes  to  the  Mountain  of  Guilt;  He  smites  it  in  His 
might,  pours  out  the  blood  of  His  cross  upon  it  and 
it  melted  in  His  presence.  Then  was  fulfilled  the 
language  of  the  Psalmist  and  the  prophets,  "The  hills 
melted  like  wax  at  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  the 
mountains  flowed  down  at  His  presence,"  Isaiah  Ixiv: 
3.  "Who  art  thou,  O  great  mountain?  before  Zerub- 
babel  thou  shalt  become  a  plain."  There  is  no  moun- 
tain of  guilt,  though  it  may  rise  to  heaven  in  its 
height,  and  spread  its  wide  base  over  all  the  earth, 
but  one  stroke  of  Jesus'  cross  will  crumble  it,  and  it 
will  become  molten  under  His  blood. 

Passing  this  molten  Mountain  of  Guilt,  the  Moun- 
tain of  Justice  rises  before  Him.  It  is  a  high  moun- 
tain; its  top  is  above  the  clouds  and  its  broad,  immov- 
able base  rests  firmly  on  the  earth.  God  built  it,  and 
His  glory  is  enthroned  upon  it.  No  smiting  can 
crumble  this;  justice  must  not  be  beaten  down;  no 
blood  or  tears  can  wash  away  the  claims  of  law  or 
righteousness.  What  can  the  Redeemer  do  here? 
Can  He  not  pass  it?  No!  It  fills  all  the  earth.  Will 
it  not  bow  before  Him?  No!  Justice  cannot  bend 
even  to  the  Son  of  God.  Must  He  turn  back  and 
leave  His  Bride  to  perish  alone?  No.  Around  the 
base  of  this  height  runs  the  gulf  of  human  despair. 
With  His  cross  He  filled  this  up,  and  piled  above  it 
a  mountain  of  mercy,  up  to  the  clouds,  through  and 
above  the  clouds,  up  to  the  heavens  and  above  the 
"heavens.     Then  was   fulfilled  the   language    of    the 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


31 


Psalmist,  "Thy  mercy  is  great  above  the  heavens." 
Faithfulness  and  justice  is  through  the  clouds  and  up 
to  the  heavens.     But  mercy  rejoiceth  over  judgment. 
The  Mountain  of  Mercy  overtops  the  Mountain  of 
Justice,  and  with  Kis  cross  He  leaps  over  its  summit. 
God's  justice  is  honored.  His  holiness  sustained,  the 
place  of  His  habitation  unmoved,  and  leaping  over 
this  height,  the  Redeem.er  comes  down  the  earth  side 
of  this  mountain  and  lights  upon  the   Mountain  of 
Wrath.     But  its  fire  did  not  consume  Him,  nor  its 
flame  kindle  upon  Him.     Up  through  the  red  billows 
that  reached  to  its  summit  and  rolled  from  its  lava 
sides  He  trod.     Then  were  His  "feet  like  unto  fine 
brass,  as  though  they  burned  in  a  furnace."     But  as 
He  poured  upon  it  the  blood  of  His  cross  and  the 
tears  of  His  atoning  agony,  its  flame  ceased  and  its 
burning   coals   were   utterly   quenched.     This   is    He 
who,  at    the    prayer  of  Moses,  put  out  the  fire  that 
burned  in  the  midst  of  the  children  of  Israel.     This  is 
He  who  gives  to  those  that  work  righteousness  power 
to  "quench  the  violence  of  fire."     This  is  the  one  like 
the  Son  of  man  that  walked  with  His  holy  children  in 
the  blazing  furnace  at  Babylon.     And  as  His  sacred 
feet  leaped  up  the  scorched  and  blackened  sides  of 
this  Mountain  of  Wrath,  it  crumbled  into  a  cold  and 
ashen  heap,  upon  which  sprung  up  verdure,  fruits  and 
flowers,  as  He  passed  over  it,  and  sprinkled  forth  the 
showers  of  mercy.     The    fiercest    flames    of    Divine 
anger  cannot    burn    against  the   Gethsemane  sweat 
and  tears,   and   Calvary-blood,   of  the   Son   of   God. 
Then  He  leaped  upon  the  Mountain    of    Darkness. 
He  shed  all  over  its  dark  sides  the  light  of  His  love- 
lit  and  victorious  face.     The  glowing  arrows  of  light 
entered  all  its  gloomy  defiles  and  black  caverns.     He 


32 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


chased  its  shadow,  and  night,  and  horrid  despair 
before  Him,  and  in  the  blaze  of  His  glory,  which 
illumined  all  the  mountain,  He  saw  the  powers  of 
darkness;  He  pursued  them  over  the  ragged  sides, 
through  the  gorges  into  the  caves  of  night.  He 
overtook  them,  overpowered  them,  took  them  captive, 
and  cast  them,  bound  with  chains  of  darkness,  into 
the  bottomless  gulf,  where  their  slain  and  captives 
were  found.  Then  did  He  lead  captivity  captive,  and 
as  He  turned  His  victorious  face  from  the  summit  of 
this  mountain,  the  whole  earth  was  lightened  with 
His  glory,  and  lo!  behind  Him  all  the  region  over 
which  He  passed  had  become  a  plain.  Then  was  ful- 
filled the  language  of  Isaiah,  "Every  valley  shall  be 
exalted  and  every  mountain  and  hill  shall  be  made 
low;  and  the  crooked  shall  be  made  straight,  and  the 
rough  places  plain,  and  there  shall  be  in  the  desert  a 
highway  for  our  God."  For  the  joy  of  this  victory 
He  endured  the  cross;  then  as  a  rejoicing  conqueror 
He  came,  skipping  upon  the  hills  and  leaping  upon 
the  mountains.  The  greatest  obstacles  were  no 
longer  barriers,  insurmountable  difficulties  disap- 
peared from  before  Him.  As  a  strong  man,  a  man  of 
Divine  strength.  He  came  from  his  heavenly  chamber, 
rejoicing  to  run  His  race,  refreshed  with  the  wine  of 
love  to  God  and  love  to  man.  He  passed  over  the 
course  with  shoutings,  and  stopped  not  until  He 
embraced  His  lovely  and  disconsolate  Bride.  This 
is  Jesus,  the  conquering  Redeemer.  This  is  Jesus, 
the  Beloved  of  the  believing  soul,  the  Husband  and 
Lord  of  the  Church,  the  waiting  and  longing  Bride. 

Third.  Why  did  He  come?  First  He  came  to 
exhibit  His  own  glory  and  the  glory  of  His  Father. 
Jesus  rejoiced  in  the  work  given  Flim  to  do,  because 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  33 

He  saw  in  its  accomplishment  a  matchless  display  of 
His  divine  glory.  He  saw  that  a  victory  over  the 
battle  set  in  array  against  Him,  a  defeat  of  all  the 
hosts  of  foes  to  God  and  m.an,  a  triumph  over  all 
obstacles,  would  spread  over  the  earth  such  a  sheen 
of  glory  as  nothing  else  could,  reveal  rightly  the  divine 
character,  fill  heaven  v^'ith  joyful  shouting.  There- 
fore, as  difficulties  were  overcome,  foes  beaten  down, 
and  His  triumphal  march  continued,  every  Divine 
perfection  was  glorified;  truth  was  vindicated,  law 
was  magnified,  justice  was  honored,  holiness  was 
crowned,  mercy  was  satisfied,  and  love  was  enthroned. 
Therefore,  the  first  note  of  the  angel's  song  over 
Bethlehem  was,  "Glory  to  God  in  the  highest!"  It 
was  delight  in  this,  joy  for  this  ascription  of  praise 
to  God,  that  gave  Him  such  strength,  that  made  Him 
leap  upon  the  mountains  and  skip  upon  the  hills.  The 
glory  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Father  never  was,  never  will 
be,  never  can  be,  so  displayed  in  anything  else  as  in 
this  redemption  work  and  conflict  and  victory  of  the 
Son  of  God.  Creation's  glory  pales  under  the  inef- 
fable brightness  of  complete  salvation  from  sin,  eternal 
life  and  happiness  bestowed  on  guilty  men.  This  is 
the  glory  that  excelleth,  and  for  this  reason  He  came. 
In  the  work  of  creation  and  providence  could  be  seen 
the  glory  of  wisdom,  power  and  goodness.  In  Divine 
law  and  its  administration  could  be  seen  the  glory  of 
holiness,  justice  and  truth;  but  in  the  work  of  Re- 
demption, love  and  mercy  blended  with  all  these  royal 
gems  to  garland  and  crown  with  matchless  glory  the 
cross. 

2d.  He  came  for  the  sake  of  His  Church,  His 
chosen  and  beloved  people  on  earth.  The  earth  is  in 
a    state   of   siege,  it   is    a   land  of  condemnation  and 


34 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


wrath.  His  poor  imprisoned,  sinful,  helpless,  hope- 
less people  are  down  there  in  the  vale  of  death.  The 
cry  of  distress  could  reach  His  ear  over  all  the  vast 
distance  of  mountain  region  that  lay  between;  from 
the  far  away  glory  His  eye  could  look  upon  the  help- 
less misery  and  guilt  of  sin.  Then  were  His  "delights 
with  the  sons  of  men."  Love  like  His  could  overleap 
any  obstacle;  such  zeal  could  pass  through  any  diffi- 
culties. True,  the  way  is  long  and  steep  and  hard 
and  perilous;  the  mountains  are  high  and  rugged, 
and  dark  and  dangerous;  the  enemies  are  many,  cruel 
and  mighty;  but  love  is  strong,  enduring  and  un- 
daunted; zeal  will  not  be  quenched;  it  burns  in  the 
redeeming  heart.  The  travail  of  His  soul  must  be 
satisfied.  Divine  compassion  will  not  turn  away  from 
misery,  even  guilty  misery.  While  we  were  yet  sin- 
ners, because  we  were  sinners,  the  Beloved  came  to 
wash  out  guilt  with  the  blood  which  the  sword  of 
justice  would  shed,  to  stay  the  wrath,  subdue  the 
enemies,  heal  the  hurt,  and  chase  fear,  terror,  dark- 
ness and  misery  from  earth.  When  the  great  Captain 
of  our  salvation  died  on  Calvary,  our  enemies  died 
with  Him;  for  He  conquers  the  earth  through  His 
death.  He  turned  away  and  passed  by  the  prison 
house  of  fallen  and  wretched  angels — Divine  wisdom 
only  knows  why,  sovereign  love  only  knows  how — 
and  cast  His  heart  upon  the  earth,  for  the  sake  of  His 
people.  These  mountains  had  never  been  crossed 
or  these  hills  removed  if  Christ  had  not  had  a  people 
beyond  them  that  He  loved.  But  He  could  not  hold 
His  peace  even  in  heaven,  could  take  no  rest;  He 
would  come  through  fire  and  water,  for  His  heart  was 
in  the  earth.  Heaven  is  not  less  glorious,  but  love 
has  a  call  from  belov;  and  can  make  itself  a  habitation 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


35 


there  among  men;  so  He  came  to  His  Church,  His 
Bride,  exclaiming, 

"This  is  My  rest,  here  still  I'll  stay, 
For  I  do  love  it  well." 

3d.  He  came  to  beget  love  and  kindle  it  to  a  flame 
in  the  hearts  of  those  He  loved.  "Herein  is  love, 
not  that  we  loved  God,  but  that  He  loved  us.  We 
love  Him  because  He  first  loved  us."  Love,  and 
love  alone,  begets  love;  it  creates  in  its  own  likeness. 
Gibbets,  thumbscrews  and  racks  may  crush  life  out  of 
the  heart,  but  not  love.  The  iron  rod  of  the  law 
may  strike  water  out  of  the  rock,  but  not  love;  the 
sword  of  justice  may  strike  fire  from  the  flinty  soul, 
but  not  love.  All  the  power  of  heaven,  earth  and 
hell  combined  could  not  compel  love  by  mere  force; 
therefore,  when  the  Almighty  and  the  all-wise  One 
would  woo,  win  and  redeem  the  earth,  He  made  the 
provisions  of  love;  He  carried  out  the  arrangements 
of  love;  He  flung  out  from  the  battlement  of  heaven 
the  banner  of  love  over  the  rebellious  world;  He  gave 
to  the  guilty  a  conquering  exhibition,  an  irresistible 
display  of  love.  He  came  Himself  down  to  fallen, 
guilty,  wretched  man.  The  hand  of  love  lifted  the 
fallen  up,  the  finger  of  love  opened  the  blind  eyes,  the 
finger  of  love  unstopped  deaf  ears,  the  hand  of  love 
poured  oil  and  wine  into  painful  wounds  and  gave 
food  and  drink  to  the  famishing.  The  voice  of  love 
spoke  pardon  and  peace  to  the  heart  of  guilt  and 
misery,  when  the  magic  wand  of  love  touched  the 
dead  soul,  it  lived  and  felt  through  all  its  awakened 
powers  the  inflowing  of  the  sweetest  love  and  happy 
endless  life.  All  God's  arrangements  and  redemption 
work  is  to  implant  and  turn  human  love  back  to 
lieaven.     We  have  good  reason  for  wondering  why 


36  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

all  do  not  love  the  redeeming  Jesus.  Why  is  it? 
Becavise  they  shut  their  eyes  to  the  exhibition  of 
Divine  love;  they  turn  their  hearts  away  from  the 
touch  of  heaven's  love;  their  souls  refuse  to  believe 
the  love  God  has  to  them.  If  they  would  lift  up  their 
eyes  to  the  opening  heaven  that  lets  through  the  Son 
of  God;  if  they  would  see  on  Calvary  the  atoning  Son 
of  God  dying  with  love;  if  they  would  lift  their  heads 
and  behold  Him  leaping  over  the  crumbling,  melting 
mountain,  and  skipping  on  the  tottering  hills  in  the 
glad  great  joy  of  His  redeeming  love,  their  hearts 
would  not  refuse  to  love  and  trust  Him.  To  win  this 
love  and  through  it  make  happy  a  people  on  earth, 
He  came. 

4th.  He  came  to  put  hope  and  joy  into  desolate  and 
despairing  hearts.  During  the  siege  of  Lucknow, 
the  English  and  Christian  missionaries  shut  up  there 
were  fast  sinking  into  despair.  The  engineers  told 
them  the  sappers  and  miners  of  the  foe  were  fast 
undermining  the  walls,  that  twenty-four  hours  would 
end  the  scene,  and  they  must  perish  amid  heathen 
horrors.  On  every  side  death  stared  them  in  the  face, 
no  human  skill  could  avert  it  longer.  Jessie  Brown, 
wife  of  a  Scotch  corporal,  overcome  with  fatigue, 
and  hopeless,  heartsick,  wTapped  her  plaid  about  her 
and  lay  down  amid  the  roar  of  cannon,  to  rest,  if  not 
sleep.  Lying  thus  upon  the  ground,  a  well  known 
sound  s.truck  upon  her  ear.  She  sprang  upon  her 
feet,  a  light  of  intensest  joy  and  hope  beamed  upon 
her  face.  With  clasped  hands  she  exclaimed,  "Dinna 
ye  he^r  it!  Dinna  ye  hear  it?  I'm  no  dreamin';  it's 
the  slogan  of  the  Highlanders!  Hark  to  the  slogan! 
We're  saved!  We're  saved!"  Her  Scottish  ears  had 
caught  the  music  of  the  victorious  pibroch  as  Have- 
lock's  Highlanders  marched  through  defeated  enemies 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  37 

to  the  fort.  Surely  not  unlike  this,  but  more  glad- 
dening and  glorious  far,  the  angel  herald  of  the  Gospel 
on  the  plains  of  Bethlehem  to  a  guilty  and  helpless 
race,  and  millions  of  desolate,  despairing  hearts  have 
leaped  for  joy  under  the  sound  of  it,  proclaiming 
"peace  on  earth,  good  will  to  men."  It  is  the  music 
of  heaven's  triumphant  pibroch  sounding  out  over 
the  earth,  it  is  the  Redeemer's  victorious  slogan  as 
He  overthrows  the  legions  of  hell,  and  it  has  brought 
the  deepest  joy  and  the  brightest  hope  this  imperiled 
world  has  ever  known  or  felt.  Out  over  the  hills  and 
mountain  tops  of  earth  it  is  singing  and  sounding  its 
glad  tidings  yet.  Open  your  Bibles  and  read  the 
words  set  to  this  music,  "Behold,  I  bring  you  glad 
tidings  of  great  joy,  which  shall  be  to  all  people,  for 
unto  you  is  born  this  day  in  the  city  of  David  a 
Saviour,  which  is  Christ  the  Lord."  "Behold,  He 
Cometh  leaping  upon  the  mountains,  and  skipping 
upon  the  hills."  If  you  would  enter  into  this  joy,  lift 
up  your  hearts  and  cry,  "Come,  Lord  Jesus.  Come 
quickly."  For  to  those  who  look  for  Him  will  He 
come  a  second  time  "without  sin  unto  salvation." 

Christ  came  first  in  personal,  visible  presence,  to 
serve  man  amidst  ignominy  and  suffering;  passed 
through  the  furnace  of  Divine  wrath  and  hid  Himself 
in  the  grave,  the  victim  and  sacrifice  for  sin.  He 
comes  now  by  His  word  and  Spirit  and  takes  posses- 
sion of  the  guilty  soul,  to  deliver  it  from  sin.  But 
to  those  who  look  for  Him  He  will  come  again;  His 
shming  feet  shall  rejoice  upon  the  hills  and  mountain 
tops  of  earth;  they  shall  reel  and  melt  beneath  Him, 
and  every  eye  shall  see  Him.  If  you  would  greet 
with  joy  that  coming,  then  lift  up  your  hearts  now 
and  cry,  "Come.  Lord  Jesus.  Come  quickly,"  and 
take  possession  of  my  soul. 


III. 

Peter's  Peril. 

"Lord,  save  me"  Matthew  xiv:  30. 

Why  did  our  blessed  Lord  ever  bring  about  this 
thrilHng  incident?  Why  move  the  mind  of  Peter  to 
attempt  this  walk  on  the  waves?  May  it  not  have 
been  that  he  might  give  to  the  world  an  illustration 
of  the  necessity,  authority  and  certainty  of  salvation, 
that  would  flash  truth  upon  the  unbelieving  soul,  like 
light  bursting  forth  in  the  midst  of  darkness,  and 
give  to  the  perishing  the  Gospel  in  three  short  words, 
"Lord,  save  me?"  You  need  not  make  broad  phylac- 
teries upon  which  to  write  before  the  world  that  you 
are  a  sinking  sinner  trusting  in  a  Saviour — it  can  be 
graven  on  a  prodigal's  finger  ring.  You  need  not 
make  long  prayers  and  confession  to  tell  the  Lord 
your  peril — these  three  words  tell  Him  enough. 
Some  are  prone  to  value  prayers  by  their  length — they 
cannot  even  quote  this  correctly,  but  add  the  words, 
"I  perish,"  which  are  not  there,  and  not  needed. 
Peter  said  about  all  he  had  time  to  say,  and  all  that 
was  necessary.  You  should  never  complain  that  you 
cannot  remember  the  Gospel.  Can  you  forget  these 
three  words?  Enshrine  them  in  your  heart  and 
ponder  the  priceless  truths  they  convey,  and  you 
have  the  Gospel  in  its  greatest  and  most  comforting 
truths.  If  all  the  Bible  were  lost  except  these  three 
short  words,  put  into  the  mouth  of  a  perishing  sinner 
by  inspiration,  the  world  might  still  have  the  Gospel. 
Jehoiakim  may  mutilate  the  roll  with  his  sacrilegious 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  39 

knife;  Antiochus  may  rend  and  burn  the  law;  the  Jews 
and  Voltaires  of  the  world  may  destroy  the  life  of 
Christ;  Rome  may  chain  it  in  the  cell  of  her  monks, 
but  before  they  can  rob  us  of  the  Gospel  they  must  pluck 
those  inspired  words  from  the  believer's  heart.  These 
contain  the  truth  which  types  and  shadows,  sacrifice 
and  offering,  prophecy  and  parables,  crucifixion  and 
resurrection,  have  all  been  employed  in  setting  forth, 
the  truth  of  man  hopelessly  perishing  and  Christ  a 
present,  able,  willing  Saviour. 

Peter's  condition  is  that  of  every  individual  of  the 
sinful  human  race,  and  this  prayer  is  for  them. 

First.  What  is  asked  for?     Salvation. 

Second.  Of  whom  asked?     The  Lord. 

Third.  For  whom  asked?     For  me. 

Salvation  implies  danger.  There  can  be  no  salva- 
tion where  there  is  no  danger  present  or  threatening. 
Why  at  this  time  did  Peter  cry  out  for  deliverance? 
Because  he  saw  the  billows  rolling  upon  him,  and 
he  was  sinking  in  the  waters.  At  another  time,  on 
the  sea  of  Galilee,  why  did  the  disciples  wake  Jesus 
from  His  sleep,  crying,  "Lord,  save  us,  we  perish?" 
Because  yawning  gulfs  were  opening  around  them 
and  the  wind  was  tilting  their  frail  ship  on  the  top- 
pling waves. 

So  there  is  great  danger  not  only  threatening  but 
present,  from  which  you  need  to  be  saved.  You  are 
already  in  the  slavery  of  sin,  and  your  fetters  are 
becoming  stronger  and  your  bondage  more  grievous 
and  hopeless  every  day;  more  grievous  because  more 
exacting,  and  more  hopeless  because  you  have  less 
sense  of  its  oppression.  The  neck  of  the  ox  soon 
becomes  calloused  and  he  ceases  to  twinge  and  give 
back  from  the  pressure  of  his  load,  for  the  yoke  has 


40 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


ceased  to  gall.  After  many  years  of  bondage,  the 
slave  partially  forgets  the  sweets  of  liberty,  the  weight 
of  his  chains  and  the  misery  of  degradation.  So  with 
man  in  the  service  of  sin.  At  first  he  must  be  baited 
with  strong  temptation  to  transgress,  and  after  com- 
mission feels  himself  wronged  in  his  wages  and  robbed 
of  his  happiness,  but  some  little  kindness  of  his  master 
and  indulgence  of  his  desires  wins  his  affections,  and 
he  forgets  the  wrong  and  robbery  of  his  oppressor  and 
becomes  more  contented  with  his  wages,  until  at 
length,  like  the  Hebrew  servant,  he  says,  "I  love  my 
master  and  will  not  go  out  free."  He  drinks  in  sin 
like  water — it  has  become  his  delight  and  his  pleasure, 
not  his  labor. 

But  is  it  true  that  any  man  who  has  once  breathed 
the  air  of  freedom,  used  his  limbs  for  himself  and 
walked  at  liberty,  earned  wages  to  put  into  his  own 
purse,  embraced  his  wife  and  children  and  called  them 
his  own — it  is  true  that  he  can  ever  love  and  wed 
bondage  that  takes  them  all  away?  No,  he  cannot! 
The  wind  that  blew  on  the  mountains  of  freedom  is 
around  him  yet,  and  the  shell  still  sings  of  the  sea. 
But  those  born  in  slavery  may.  They  have  never 
known  the  bounding  joys,  the  sunny  skies  and  fra- 
grant flowers  of  freedom,  and  they  must  be  persuaded 
of  the  truth  before  they  will  desire  liberty. 

So  it  is  with  you.  You  were  born  in  slavery,  your 
mother  was  a  slave  before  you,  and  the  law  of  sin 
is  just  the  law  of  slavery,  ''partus  seqtiiUtr  ventren''  and 
you  have  followed  the  condition  of  your  mother  and 
m.ust  be  convinced  of  sin's  thralldom  before  you  will 
seek  salvation.  And  be  assured  that  no  tyrant  ever 
used  subject  so  cruelly — you  must  be  untiring  and 
almost  sleepless  in  its  service,  nor  ever  complain  of 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  4 1 

the  burden  and  toil.  And  the  torture  of  the  whip  that 
plows  through  the  naked  flesh,  and  the  pain  of  the 
salt  that  dries  up  the  blood  and  heals  the  wound  of  the 
slave,  is  little  to  the  scorpion  stings  of  conscience, 
and  the  lash  of  remorse  that  you  may  feel;  it  robs 
you  not  of  wages,  and  free  limbs,  and  knowledge,  and 
wife  and  children  only,  but  it  robs  you  of  manhood, 
and  honor,  and  peace,  and  happiness,  and  the  love 
of  God,  and  heaven,  and  are  these  not  worth  more 
than  all  others,  worth  m.ore  than  the  manly  step  and 
uplifted  head  of  free  limbs,  and  the  throbbing  pleasure 
of  untroubled  earthly  love,  more  than  all  that  earthly 
liberty  can  give?  Of  all  others,  this  slavery  takes 
away  the  most,  requires  the  most,  and  gives  the  least. 
Both  believer  and  unbeliever,  what  need  we  have  to 
plead,  "Lord,  save  us,"  from  the  slavery  of  sin! 

Again,  you  are  in  danger  of  enslavement  by  the 
Avorld.  To  the  young  she  is  offering  her  pleasures/ 
saving,  "Come,  eat  of  my  bread  and  drink  the  wine 
which  I  have  mingled."  Her  fame,  wealth,  friend- 
ship, power  and  glory,  are  all  spread  out  before  you, 
saying,  "All  these  will  I  give  you  if  you  will  fall  down 
and  serve  me,"  and  before  you  are  hardly  aware  you 
are  toiling  like  a  gallev  slave  onlv  for  the  bread  which 
perisheth,  and  cringing  under  the  despotic  sceptre  of 
the  world.  God  says,  "Serve  Me."  You  look  at  the 
world;  it  frowns  its  tyrant  brow  and  says,  "No,"  and 
you  refuse.  The  world  says,  "Do  this,"  and  you  do  it. 
God  says,  "Do  this,"  and  you  tell  Him  you  are  afraid. 
What  would  the  world  say  of  me  if  I  were  to  throw 
my  whole  soul  into  religion — if  I  should  spurn  the 
competition  of  its  friendship,  wealth  and  honor,  when 
they  oppose  duty  and  the  love  of  God! 

O  believer  and  unbeliever!  if  vou  would  not  be  the 


42 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


most  pitiful,  cowardly,  abject  slave  that  ever  cringed 
beneath  the  rod,  plead  for  salvation  from  the  slavery 
of  the  world,  the  slavery  of  its  offerings  and  opinions. 

Again,  you  are  enslaved  by  Satan.  He  has  ever 
claimed  and  received  service  from  you,  though  it 
never  was  his  right.  Both  law  and  justice  forbade 
ycu  to  give  it,  but  instead  of  boldly  confronting  the 
usurper,  and  challenging  his  claim,  and  resisting  his 
demands,  you  have  yielded,  and  yielded  again  and 
again,  and  now  he  is  enlarging  his  power  over  you, 
and  riveting  your  fetters.  Every  unlawful  lust  in- 
dulged, every  unholy  desire  gratified,  every  unclean 
affection  cherished  or  duty  omitted,  or  wicked  deed 
performed,  or  sin  committed,  is  only  adding  link 
after  link  to  the  long,  heavy  chain  that  binds  you 
under  his  oppression.  You  have  exchanged  the  easy, 
happy,  profitable  service  of  God  for  fruitless,  miser- 
able, degrading  slavery.  As  the  Israelites  built  up 
the  kingdom  and  glory  of  Pharoah,  so  you  are  increas- 
ing the  wealth  and  piling  up  pyramids  to  commemorate 
the  kingdom  and  glory  of  Satan.  What  an  accursed 
throne  you  are  sustaining,  and  what  a  vile,  unholy 
kingdom  you  are  strengthening!  This  is  now  the 
most  ungrateful,  grievous  and  disgraceful  slavery, 
but  if  you  are  not  saved  from  it  soon,  it  will  become 
most  horrible  and  endless.  The  chain  that  binds  you 
will  become  white  with  hot  agony,  but  not  melt,  and 
the  iron  house  of  bondage  will  become  red  with 
burning  wrath,  but  never  consumed. 

Are  you  content  to  forsake  the  service  of  such  a 
God  as  you  have  and  endure  now  the  slavery  of  such 
a  tyrannical  master  and  hereafter  suffer  his  taunts 
and  tortures  forever?  Hide  not  this  truth  from  your- 
selves, that  you  are  the  slaves  of  Satan  and  need 
deliverance. 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  43 

Again,  you  are  in  danger  of  the  curse  of  the  law. 
You  know  you  have  broken  the  infinitely  holy  law 
of  God,  which  was  delivered  with  such  terrific 
splendor  from  Sinai  that  Moses,  the  favorite  and 
friend  of  God,  who  was  with  Him  in  the  mount  forty 
days  and  nights,  said,  "I  exceedingly  fear  and  quake."" 
This  law,  which  was  literally  clothed  with  fire  and 
armed  with  thunder  bolts  when  delivered  to  man, 
you  have  broken ;  and  Paul  says,  ''Cursed  is  every  one 
who  continueth  not  in  all  things  written  in  the  book 
of  the  law,  to  do  them."  This  you  know  you  have 
not  done,  though  you  may  not  have  transgressed  so 
boldly  and  flagrantly  as  some.  This  will  not  relieve 
you — if  you  have  offended  in  one  point  this  is  sufficient 
to  incur  the  curse.  And  what  is  that  curse?  "The 
soul  that  sinneth  it  shall  die."  It  is  spiritual  and 
eternal  death.  But  the  hardest  thing  of  which  to 
convince  man  is  the  fearfulness  of  this  curse,  for  of 
the  first  part  they  are  insensible,  and  of  the  second, 
language  can  convey  no  adequate  idea,  and  the 
imagination  can  form  no  fit  image  or  conception. 
Unbelieving  sinner,  the  first  part  is  now  in  eflfect  upon 
you,  you  are  now  spiritually  dead,  there  is  no  spiritual 
breath,  no  pulse,  no  activity  within  you.  You  may 
be  living,  healthy,  strong,  active,  in  the  pursuits  of 
life,  but  in  the  law  of  holiness  and  the  service  of  God 
you  are  not.  You  may  love  money,  and  pleasure, 
and  beauty,  and  friends,  but  your  heart  does  not  love 
God.  God  may  throw  around  you  day  after  day 
arms  of  love  and  mercy  to  embrace  you,  but  you  never 
return  the  embrace.  You  can  gather  an  earthly 
friend  to  your  bosom  in  affection  and  weep  over  his 
injuries,  but  you  cannot  embrace  a  Saviour  joyfully 
in  the  arms  of  faith  and  love,  nor  shed  a  tear  over  the 


44 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


injuries  you  have  done  to  God's  law  and  honor.  True, 
you  may  love  a  god  of  your  corrupt  desires — a  god 
shorn  of  his  glorious  justice  and  robbed  of  his  holi- 
ness; but  you  do  not  love  the  God  of  heaven,  the  God 
and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  paralysis 
of  spiritual  death  has  struck  lifeless  your  every  affec- 
tion for  such  a  God  as  this.  But  deplorable  and 
miserable  as  this  state  is,  a  punishment  far  more  terri- 
ble is  fast  approaching.  This  is  eternal  death  in  hell. 
Here  you  will  continue  spiritually  dead,  you  will  have 
no  will  nor  desire  to  love  God,  but  the  soul  will  then 
be  keenly  alive  to  the  loss  of  His  love  and  mercy; 
it  Vk'ill  be  keenly  alive  to  the  need  of  His  favor  and 
friendship;  but  it  will  be  pierced  through  and  through 
with  the  horrid  conviction  that  this  can  never  be 
secured,  that  God's  mercy  and  love  are  gone,  gone 
forever,  that  His  help,  favor  and  friendship  are  lost, 
irretrievably  lost.  It  may  weep  burning  tears  in  a 
Judas  repentance,  but  never  to  be  forgiven;  it  may 
w^ail,  but  can  never  hope,  and  fearful  will  be  its  writh- 
ings  under  the  storm  of  taunts  and  mockeries  of  devils 
who  whispered  honied  lies  into  its  ear  on  earth;  but 
m.ost  impotent  will  be  its  rage  against  its  tormentors. 
Mercy  offered  will  not  then  be  forgotten,  proffered 
forgiveness  will  there  be  remembered,  despised  love 
will  there  be  remembered,  and  the  soul  will  be  filled 
with  a  condemning  sense  of  guilt  and  reproach  and 
maddening  remorse;  and  most  horrible  of  all  this,  this, 
and  more  than  all  this,  that  only  the  lost  can  ever 
know,  must  continue  unmitigated  through  eternity. 
"Oh!  who  can  dwell  with  devouring  fire,  who  can 
dwell  in  everlasting  burnings?"  Charity  is  pained  to 
preach  this  awful  truth,  but  love  forbids  that  it  should 
be  hidden  from.  you.     Fast  as  your  pulse  beats  and 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  45. 

your  suns  rise  and  set,  this  danger  is  hurrying  swiftly 
upon  you.  Then  truly  you  have  need  to  cry,  "Lord, 
save  me." 

But  worst  of  all,  you  are  in  danger  of  the  wrath 
of  God.  This  overtops  every  other  danger.  Before 
this,  all  that  has  been  told  dwindles  into  nothing,  is 
overshadowed  and  almost  forgotten  in  this  deepest 
pang  of  woe,  the  wrath  of  a  God  of  love.  His  wrath 
would  be  more  tolerable  if  He  were  vengeance  or 
malice  or  only  justice,  but  He  is  love.  The  wrath  of 
forg-iving,  saving  love — this  apparent  solecism  con- 
tains the  most  awful  truth.  Oh!  how  would  the  judg- 
ment be  shorn  of  its  terrors  if  Jesus  was  not  to  sit  on 
the  throne,  if  Jesus  was  not  to  pronounce  the  sentence, 
and  methinks  hell  would  be  robbed  of  more  than  half 
its  torment  if  God  should  only  banish  the  soul  there  to 
the  taunts  and  mockery  of  devils  and  the  gnawings  of' 
reproach  and  remorse,  then  turn  and  never  look  at 
it  agrain.  But  the  breath  of  God's  wrath  kindles  its 
fires  and  boils  all  its  deeps  of  misery.  And  "can  you 
grapple  with  the  vengeance  of  God?"  What  can 
you  do  when  He  "girds  Himself  with  strength  and 
clothes  Himself  with  wrath?"  He  asks  you  the 
question  Himself  by  Ezekiel  xxii:  14:  "Can  thy  heart 
endure  or  can  thy  hands  be  strong  in  the  days  that 
I  shall  deal  with  thee?"  Will  you  not  fear  the  frown 
that  darkens  His  brow,  nor  the  lightning  of  His  eye 
when  His  wrath  is  kindled?  What  insanity  possesses 
men  who  are  unconcerned,  when  such  danger  is  trav- 
elling upon  them  with  fleeter  step  than  the  flying 
steed;  nor  will  once  cry  out,  "Lord,  save  me,"  save 
me  from  "the  wrath  to  come,  the  wrath  to  come?" 

Again,  you  are  in  danger  of  losing  heaven.     This  is 
the  salvation  that  Christ  came  to  ofTer.     Earth  has  no. 


46  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

redemption  that  can  compare  with  it,  no  deliverance 
like  it — to  save  from  the  slavery  of  sin  and  the  world, 
the  bondage  of  Satan,  the  curse  of  the  law,  the  remorse 
and  misery  of  hell  and  the  wrath  of  God,  to  all  the 
glory  and  endless  joy  of  heaven.  Infinitely  glorious 
salvation — is  it  not  a  joyful  sound?  What  wonder 
the  angels  sped  on  eager  wings  to  the  vale  of  Bethle- 
hem, saying,  "I  bring  you  glad  tidings  of  great  joy?" 
What  wonder  that  joy  throbs  in  the  bosom  of  angels 
over  one  sinner  that  repenteth.  And  shall  the  human 
heart  alone  be  unstirred  by  it,  man  alone  rejoice  not? 
Shall  angels  turn  away  from  this  little  flock  and  hear 
no  one  cry,  "Lord,  save  me,"  with  such  a  salvation  as 
this?  Oh,  remember,  my  friends,  it  is  such  a  salvation 
as  this  that  is  asked  for!  Is  it  not  worth  the  asking, 
think  you? 

The  second  question  is,  Of  whom  is  this  salvation 
asked?     "Lord,  save  me." 

If  you  are  not  calloused  by  the  great  sin  of  this 
nation,  your  heart  could  not  but  have  ached  with  pity 
had  you  stood  with  me  in  the  slave  mart,  and  have 
seen  the  young  girl  trembling  before  her  cruel  dealer, 
her  fair,  young  face,  where  but  a  few  drops  of  Afric's 
warm  blood  mingled  in  her  veins,  only  more  inflamed 
the  voluptuous  and  brutal  bidders  for  her  beauty. 
But  one  man  in  that  place  looked  on  with  a  face 
working  with  compassion.  She  read  the  feelings  of 
that  heart,  she  felt  that  it  was  full  of  pity.  "Oh,  sir," 
says  she,  "buy  me,  please  buy  me!"  But  with  a  strug- 
gling heart  he  turned  away.  He  was  not  rich  enough 
to  buy  the  poor  captive,  neither  could  he  break  the 
tyrant's  iron  laws  that  fettered  her  there.  And  should 
he  tell  her  of  the  land  of  liberty  and  bid  her  flee,  he 
could  not  rub  out  her  track  from  the  bloodhounds' 


THE  GOLDEN  FOT.  47 

scent,  nor  restrain  the  scarce  less  ruthless  marshals, 
which  the  cursed  fugitive  law  has  set  upon  her.  He 
had  not  power  to  save  the  poor  slave — she  needed 
a  mighty  deliverer,  she  needed  a  Redeemer  who  could 
pull  down  thrones,  change  laws  and  times,  open  prison 
doors,  rend  iron  fetters  and  break  bars  of  steel  in 
pieces. 

And  such  a  Saviour  do  we  need.  Our  captors  are 
mighty,  our  oppression  heavy,  our  chains  strong,  our 
enemies  many.  No  mortal  arm  can  save  us,  no 
earthly  wealth  can  purchase  our  redemption,  it  is  too 
great  a  price;  but  "salvation  is  of  the  Lord."  He  is 
a  Saviour  and  a  mighty  one;  in  Him  all  fulness  dwells, 
all  fulness  of  power  to  save.  He  breaks  in  pieces 
mighty  men  and  tramples  earthly  thrones  in  the  dust 
to  save  His  people.  He,  and  He  only,  can  do  all  you 
need  for  salvation.  You  need  redemption  from  the 
law,  the  infinitely  holy  law  which  you  have  trans- 
gressed, whose  curse  not  onlv  now  lies  on  vou,  but 
hangs  over  you  in  "wrath  to  come."  Well,  Jesus 
was  "made  under  the  law,  to  redeem  them  that  are 
under  the  law."  It  claimed  obedience,  perfect,  cheer- 
ful and  in  love.  This  Jesus  gave,  nor  failed  in  the 
least,  from  the  manger  cradle  in  Bethlehem  to  the 
dying  cry  of  the  cross;  this  penetrating,  holy  law 
could  find  no  fault  nor  flaw  in  Him;  His  heart  never 
grew  weary.  His  aflfection  never  decreased.  His  desire 
never  turned  aside.  His  will  never  rebelled,  but  He 
loved  the  holy  law  He  came  to  honor,  His  life  was  all 
fair,  there  was  no  spot  in  it,  the  whole  page  was 
stainless  and  pure,  and  such  obedience  satisfied  the 
law. 

But  the  law  claimed  also  a  penal  satisfaction  from  the 
sinner,  but  this,  too,  Jesus  took  upon  Himself.     He 


48  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

gathered  up  all  its  infinite  demands,  Ke  bared  His 
heart  to  endure  all  its  righteous  displeasure;  the  rod 
of  this  law  smote  Him  .on  the  head,  the  sword  of 
justice  entered  His  soul,  and  pierced  His  hands  and 
feet,  majesty  stripped  the  arm  of  vengeance  and 
washed  its  dishonor  away  in  Jesus'  blood;  the  clouds, 
and  darkness,  and  rending  thunders  of  Sinai,  gathered 
around  the  cross  and  over  the  soul  of  the  dying 
Saviour,  but  when  He  cried,  "It  is  finished,"  then 
that  searching,  fiery  law  had  no  more  to  claim;  its 
insulted  honor  was  cleared,  its  majesty  exalted,  and 
its  power  to  condemn  forgiven  sinners  died  with  Jesus 
on  the  cross.  Therefore,  says  Paul,  "You  are  not 
under  the  law,"  "for  Jesus  Christ  is  the  end  of  the 
law  for  righteousness  to  every  one  that  believeth." 
The  precious  blood  of  Jesus  was  the  wealth  which 
paid  the  price  of  your  redemption  and  broke  the  power 
of  a  condemning  law.  You  want  to  be  justified  at 
the  bar  of  God — not  justified  for  your  sins;  this  can 
never  be — but  accepted  as  if  you  had  never  sirmed, 
treated  there  as  perfectly  righteous.  Then  stand  up 
there  and  hear  Christ  say,  "Father,  he  has  My  spotless 
robe  on;  I  stand  for  him;  I  gave  him  My  righteous- 
ness; He  is  before  Thee  just,  I  am  perfectly  innocent — 
wait  Thou  not  justify  him?"  And  sweeter  than  all 
earth's  melodies  is  the  reply,  "Thou  art  fair,  My  love, 
thou  art  fair;  there  is  no  spot  in  thee." 

But  though  the  law  may  be  honored  and  you 
justified  before  God  in  His  Son,  yet  you  want  more 
than  this  for  your  salvation.  Your  sins  must  be  par- 
doned. This,  too,  Jesus,  and  only  Jesus,  can  do. 
"The  .Son  of  man  hath  (yet)  power  on  earth  to  forgive 
sins."  Whatever  your  guilt  may  be,  there  is  forgive- 
ness with  Him.     "The  blood  of  Jesus  cleanseth  from 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


49 


all  sin."  His  blood  can  blot  out  the  record,  though 
it  may  be  written  in  the  memory  of  God.  "Though 
your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  white  as  snow: 
though  they  be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  the 
wool."  "He  will  abundantly  pardon."  He  bent  in 
pity  over  the  adulterous  woman,  saying,  "Neither  do 
I  condemn  thee."  As  Mary  Magdalene  washed  His 
feet  with  tears  and  wiped  them  with  her  hair,  He 
said,  "Thy  sins,  which  are  many,  are  all  forgiven  thee." 
He  bade  Ananias  say  to  bloody  Paul,  "Brother  Saul, 
arise  and  wash  away  thy  sins,  calling  upon  the  Lord." 
He  said  to  the  dying  thief  upon  the  cross,  "This  day 
shalt  thou  be  with  Me  in  paradise." 

There  is  none  who  hears  of  Jesus  whose  sins  may 
not  be  forgiven,  except  those  who  wilfully  and  obstin- 
ately refuse.  It  is  said  that  the  highest  mountains 
may  be  hidden  under  the  waves  of  the  sea.  So  there 
is  no  mountain  of  sin  that  may  not  be  buried  in  the 
ocean  of  redeeming  mercy.  Your  guilt  cannot  rise 
higher  than  the  deeps  of  Jesus'  love.  Truly  said 
Joseph  Caryl,  "None  can  pardon  so  freely,  none  so 
fully,  none  so  continually,  none  so  eternally,  none  so 
indifferently,  whether  in  respect  of  sinners  or  sin,  as 
Thou  dost.  It  is  all  one  to  Thee  what  the  sins  are 
or  whose  they  are,  so  they  come  to  ask  Thy  pardon." 
There  is  no  exception  in  the  pardon  proclaimed  from 
Jesus'  throne.  Says  John,  "He  is  the  propitiation 
for  our  sins,  not  for  ours  only,  but  the  sins  of  the 
whole  world."  He  saves  and  forgives  "Jews  and 
Greeks,  Scythian  and  barbarian,  bond  and  free." 

But,  again,  you  need  your  heart  made  alive  and  its 
uncleanness  washed  away.  This  also  can  Jesus  do. 
His  word  is,  "I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life,  and 
if  any  man  believe  in  Me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet 


50  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

shall  he  live."  Your  heart  may  now  be  dead  to  the 
love  of  God  and  holy  desires,  but,  as  He  did  Lazarus, 
He  can  call  it  from  the  tomb  and  bid  the  grave  clothes 
be  taken  off — He  can  give  it  tears  to  weep  over  a 
broken  law  before  an  oftended  God,  and  bind  its  arms 
of  affection  around  a  loving  Redeemer.  But  what  can 
wash  its  iilth  away,  the  defilement  of  its  sin?  Nitre 
and  much  soap  cannot  do  it,  nor  the  blood  of  a  thou- 
sand lambs  slain  upon  the  altar — nothing  but  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb  of  God,  applied  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 
There  is  virtue  in  the  blood  of  Christ  to  whiten,  that 
no  fuller's  skill  on  earth  can  equal.  This  river  of  life 
can  wash  the  filth  of  the  soul  away,  can  fill  it  with 
thoughts  of  purity,  with  desires  of  holiness,  and 
beautify  it  with  images  of  love. 

But,  again,  you  want  a  Saviour  who  can  conquer 
all  your  foes.  Evil  and  temptation  hide  in  your  own 
heart;  temptations,  wicked  men  and  devils,  besiege 
you  without;  but  all  these  Jesus  can  overcome.  He 
subdues  all  opposition  within  you  by  His  word  and 
Spirit,  and  by  the  loving  invitations  and  glorious 
promises  of  the  Gospel  He  woos  and  wins  your  heart 
to  His  side  in  the  conflict.  And  what  are  wicked 
men  and  devils  before  Him?  "By  the  blast  of  God 
they  perish,  and  by  the  breath  of  His  nostrils  are  they 
consumed."  By  the  mouth  of  Isaiah  He  says,  "Who 
would  set  the  briars  and  thorns  against  Me  in  battle? 
I  would  go  through  them,  I  would  burn  them  to- 
gether." Has  Satan  ever  won  the  day  on  any  field 
with  Christ?  He  was  defeated  in  heaven  and  ban- 
ished to  the  darkness  and  chains  of  hell,  and  on  the 
pinnacle  of  the  temple,  in  the  v/ilderness  and  on  the 
mountain,  he  was  foiled  again  and  again,  and  even  in 
the    hour    and    power    of    darkness  in   Gethsemane, 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  51 

thoue:h  pToans  burst  from  His  heart  and  sweat  and 
blood  stained  His  raiment,  yet  He  overcame  at  last, 
and  on  the  morning  of  the  third  day  He  broke  the 
dungeon  bars,  triumphed  over  death  and  him  that 
has  the  power  of  death,  and  now  His  language  is,  "O 
death!  I  will  be  thy  plague.  O  grave!  I  will  be  thy 
destruction."  "I  am  alive  forevermore,  and  have  the 
keys  of  hell  and  of  death." 

And  now  He  goes  forth  with  the  bow  in  His  hand 
and  the  crown  on  His  brow,  conquering  and  to  con- 
quer, and  "His  chariots  are  twenty  thousand  and 
thousands  of  angels  strong,"  for  He  is  the  Lord  of 
hosts.  Who  shall  contend  with  such  a  host,  or  who 
shall  fear  that  follows  His  banner?  For  He  is  a 
Saviour  and  a  mighty  One.  Says  David,  "The 
mighty  Lord  is  on  my  side,  I  will  not  be  afraid." 
Men  were  inspired  with  courage  who  carried  Caesar, 
and  shall  men  fear  who  carry  Jesus?  Men  followed 
fearlessly  the  standard  of  Alexander  and  Napoleon, 
and  shall  men  in  the  conflict  of  life  follow  with  doubt 
and  fear  the  banner  of  Jesus,  upon  whose  blood- 
stained vesture  is  written,  "King  of  kings  and  Lord 
of  lords?" 

Such  a  Saviour  is  yours,  and  such  an  one  only  can 
save  you  from  all  your  enemies. 

But,  again,  you  need  a  saviour  who  can  appease  the 
wrath  of  God.  You  must  be  reconciled  unto  God 
and  God  unto  you.  But  what  advocate  will  you  send 
to  this  just  and  holy  King?  What  intercessor?  Who 
can  fill  his  mouth  with  arguments  and  plead  with  all 
the  eloquence  of  love  before  God?  Who  can  inter- 
cede with  Him  and  prevail?  There  must  be  no  failure 
here  or  all  is  lost!  When  the  rebels  of  Calais  ap- 
peared before  King  Edward  the  Third   with   ropes 


52  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

about  their  necks,  who  pled  for  their  lives?  Was  it 
his  favorite  courtier,  or  cabinet  counselor?  No! 
None  of  these  lay  near  enough  to  the  king's  heart. 
But  the  queen  must  plead  on  bended  knees;  only  the 
wife  of  his  bosom  could  prevail.  Such  a  pleader  do 
you  need  in  heaven,  one  who  is  near  the  heart  of  God, 
and  do  you  think  Jesus  will  fail  you  here?  Into 
whose  lips  "grace  is  poured,"  "who  spake  as  never 
man  spake?"  God's  beloved  Son,  who  lay  in  the 
Father's  bosom?  Think  you  that  God  has  forgotten 
the  great  sacrifice  that  began  in  the  manger  and 
ended  on  the  cross;  that  He  has  forgotten  one  thorn 
that  pierced  His  feet  on  the  road  from  Bethlehem 
to  Calvary;  or  that  He  has  forgotten  one  groan  of 
Gethsemane,  or  buffet  of  the  soldiers,  or  agony  of  the 
crucifixion?  Does  He  not  know  how,  in  all  this, 
sin  was  condemned  and  holiness  and  justice  infinitely 
magnified?  And  shall  Jesus  fail  as  He  pleads  for 
sinners  with  the  arguments  of  Calvary  in  His  hands, 
saying,  "All  this  I  did  for  them.  Father,  is  Thy  jus- 
tice not  cleared,  is  Thy  holiness  not  exalted,  is  Thy 
character  not  glorified?  Father,  forgive  them." 
Glad  music  to  the  ear  of  faith  is  the  reply,  "In  Thee 
I  am  well  pleased.  All  Mine  are  Thine,  and  Thine  are 
Mine." 

Christ  is  just  such  a  pleader  as  you  need,  and  what- 
ever may  be  your  guilt.  He  can  prevail  for  you.  True, 
you  have  rebelled  against  God,  broken  His  law  and 
neglected  and  abused  His  love;  perhaps  you  have 
blasphemed  His  name  and  murder  stains  your  hands, 
yet  all  this  guilt  Jesus'  blood  can  wash  away,  and  His 
eloquent  lips  can  plead  and  prevail  over  all  this  crime 
at  the  throne  of  God.  But  from  the  least  sinner  to 
the  vilest  we  all  need  just  such  an  intercessor  in  the 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  53 

court  of  heaven.  What  does  man  need  for  salvation 
that  Jesus  cannot  do?  Is  it  redemption  from  the  law? 
Savs  Paul,  "Christ  has  redeemed  us  from  the  curse 
of  the  law,  being  made  a  curse  for  us."  Is  it  justifi- 
cation with  God?  Says  Paul,  "Christ  is  the  end  of 
the  law  for  righteousness  to  every  one  that  believeth." 
Is  it  the  forgiveness  of  sin?  Says  Jesus,  "All  manner 
of  sin  and  blasphemy  shall  be  forgiven  unto  men," 
Is  it  all  enemies  overcome?  Paul  says,  "Jesus  shall 
put  all  enemies  under  His  feet,"  and  "the  last  enemy 
that  shall  be  destroyed  is  death."  Is  it  an  all- 
prevailing  advocate  with  God  we  want?  Says  John, 
"We  have  an  advocate  with  the  Father,  Jesus  Christ 
the  righteous,  and  Him  the  Father  heareth  always." 
He  only  is  a  Saviour,  and  He  is  an  all-sufBcient 
Saviour,  who  "saves  to  the  uttermost  all  who  come 
unto  God  by  Him." 

Third.  For  whom  is  this  salvation  asked?  "Lord, 
save  w;r."  It  is  a  special,  individual,  personal  salva- 
tion. If  men  would  only  read  the  law  and  the  Gospel 
in  the  first  person,  it  would  tear  the  veil  from  their 
eyes  and  pierce  their  hearts  with  conviction,  and  often 
bring  faith  and  hope  and  joy;  but  they  seem  to  read  it 
as  if  the  third  person  were  all  through  substituted  for 
the  first  and  second:  He  shall  have  no  other  gods; 
he  shall  not  take  the  name  of  the  Lord  in  vain!  He 
shall  not  steal,  nor  false  swear,  nor  covet!  He  shall 
love  the  Lord;  he  shall  leave  all  and  follow  Christ, 
or  he  shall  have  no  mercy,  he  shall  be  damned!  And 
when  they  come  to  the  Gospel,  they  read  it  much  the 
same  way,  as  if  they  had  no  personal  interest  in  all 
its  sweet  invitations,  as  if  they  were  not  starving  for 
all  its  rich  provisions.  They  seem  to  read  all  the 
time,  "Christ  taketh  away  the    sin    of    the    world;" 


54  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

"Jesus  came  to  save  sinners;"  "Jesus  died  for  the 
unjust."  But  never  think  of  reading  it,  "Jesus  came 
to  save  me;"  "Jesus  died  for  me."  Men  are  particular 
and  personal  about  their  rights  and  possessions  and 
necessities  in  this  world.  You  will  hear,  "/  own 
that;"  "/  need  that;"  "that  is  my  right;"  "I  must  take 
care  of  my  ozun  interest."  But  hov/  strange  is  it  that, 
in  the  most  important  interest,  in  the  concerns  of  their 
immortal  souls,  they  are  contented  with  the  vaguest 
generalities.  There  is  salvation  for  sinners,  there  is 
hope  for  the  lost,  and  doubtless  some  even  pray,  "Lord, 
save  sinners,"  before  they  have  cried  out  in  agony  of 
faith,  "Lord,  save  me."  True,  the  Gospel  abhors  self- 
ishness, but  it  is  no  selfishness  to  live  before  you  call 
others  to  life — it  is  no  selfishness  to  taste  the  food 
before  you  tell  others  it  is  good  and  call  them  to  the 
banquet.  No,  the  Gospel  teaches  self-love  even  as 
love  to  your  neighbor.  There  are  houses  in  New 
York  where  food  is  provided  for  those  who  are  too 
poor  to  buy,  and  they  are  invited  to  come  and  eat 
freely,  but  what  would  you  think  of  a  man  standing 
at  the  door  of  such  an  eating  house,  ragged  and 
hungry,  and  who  had  never  tasted  the  food,  calling 
the  hungry  passer  by  to  come  and  eat?  Would  he 
not  rather  say,  "That  table  was  spread  for  me — there 
is  abundance  and  to  spare;  /  will  go  and  eat,  then 
tell  others." 

Do  not  wrong  your  own  souls  out  of  Gospel  treasures 
by  assigning  it  all  to  others.  What  good  will  it  do 
your  souls  though  the  Lamb  of  God  "taketh  away 
the  sins  of  the  world,"  if  you  never  behold  Him  by 
faith  taking  away  your  sins?  What  though  He  save 
ten  thousand  Jews  and  Gentiles  and  Scythians,  bond 
and  free,  if  He  saves  not  you?     What  joy  can  it  give 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  55 

vour  heart  to  know  that  "ten  thousand  times  ten 
thousand  and  thousands  of  thousands"  shall  worship 
around  the  throne,  and  "a  great  multitude  which  no 
man  can  number"  shall  bear  their  palms  and  wear 
white  robes  before  the  Lamb?  Can  this  rejoice  you 
if  you  are  not  in  the  happy  throng?  It  can  give  no 
joy  or  peace  to  my  soul  that  Jesus  died  for  sinners 
unless  I  see  that  He  died  for  me.  What  comfort  that 
Jesus  saves  if  He  saves  not  you?  "It  is  mine  and 
thine,"  that  sweetens  the  Gospel,  my  God  and  my 
Saviour.  If  you  were  a  toiling,  miserable  slave  in 
chains,  and  a  liberator  should  come  with  redemption 
monev  in  his  hand,  you  would  not  say,^  "Buy  my 
neighbor,  buy  all  the  adjoining  plantation;"  but,  "Buy 

meT 

Just  such  a  perishing,  suffering  sinner  you  are. 
Then  cry,  "Lord,  save  meT  Oh!  beHeve  me,  each 
one  of  you  need  salvation.  I  would  except  none. 
You  are  most  needy,  dying  in  want,  and  you  need 
a  great  salvation,  and  such  a  salvation  is  offered,  and 
you  need  a  great  Saviour,  a  mighty,  conquering 
Redeemer,  an  irresistible  advocate.  Such  a  Saviour 
is  offered,  for  "salvation  is  of  the  Lord."  You  need 
it  for  yourself,  every  one  who  hears  my  voice.  None 
need  it  worse  than  you  personally.  When  pierced 
with  an  agony  of  danger,  and  the  misery  of  sin,  will 
you  not  cry  out,  "Lord,  save  me?" 

The  Lord  does  not  save  sinners  by  nations,  as  He 
brought  Israel  out  of  Egypt.  He  saves  not  by  com- 
munities or  cities,  as  when  He  spared  Nineveh;  nor 
by  families,  as  when  He  took  Lot  out  of  Sodorn. 
But  He  saves  individual  persons.  "He  calls  His 
sheep  by  name.''  "Their  names  are  written  in  the 
Lamb's  "book  of  life."     What  though  you  may  be 


56  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

in  a  religious  community,  or  even  in  a  church  dis- 
tinguished for  piety.  This  will  be  no  safety  to  you. 
What  though  your  father  and  mother  may  be  pious? 
This  will  do  you  no  good  if  you  have  not  Christ's 
righteousness.  But  all  this  will,  rather,  aggravate 
your  guilt.  To  convince  you  that  you  personally  are 
a  guilty,  perishing  sinner,  and  that  Jesus  is  a  willing, 
able  Saviour  for  you;  to  convince  you  of  all  this, 
the  law  and  the  Gospel  is  given,  apostles  and  teachers 
are  given,  the  Word  preached  and  ordinances  admin- 
istered; yet,  after  all  this,  you  must  pray  for  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  lead  you  into  the  truth.  But,  oh!  remember, 
if  thou  art  wise,  thou  shalt  be  wise  for  thyself,  but  if 
thou  scornest,  thou  alone  shalt  bear  it. 


■^  IV. 

Justice  and  Salvation. 

"A  just  God  and  a  Saviour,''  Isaiah  xlv:  21. 

This  text  contains  a  problem  more  difficult  than 
anv  Euclid  ever  proposed — a  seeming  paradox.  How 
can  God  be  just,  yet  Himself  become  the  Saviour 
of  the  guilty?  To  human  reason,  to  all  the  powers 
of  a  created  mind,  the  first  view  here  given  of  the 
Divine  character,  "A  just  God,"  excludes  all  hope 
from  sinful,  guilty  man;  but  in  the  second  view,  as 
"a  Saviour,"  He  is  presented  as  the  foundation  of  all 
hope.  It  is  only  poor,  blind,  short-sighted  reason 
that  cannot  reconcile  justice  and  justification,  that  is 
ignorant  of  the  plan  of  salvation,  that  looks  on  a  God 
of  justice  with  despairing  gloom  and  terror.  But  to 
the  man  of  faith,  that  sees  justice  and  mercy  embrace 
each  other,  this  attribute  only  clothes  with  firmness 
and  consistency  the  character  of  his  God;  gives 
security  and  assurance  to  his  well  grounded  hope,  for 
it  makes  a  just  God  a  just  Saviour.  And  a  clear  con- 
viction that  God  is  just  and  that  it  is  only  justice  in 
Him  to  condemn  the  sinner,  is  needful  to  the  heart 
of  guilty  man  before  he  can  sincerely,  willingly,  accept 
God  as  a  Saviour.  Because  one  of  the  noblest  traits 
possessed  by  man  is  a  disposition  to  resent  injustice. 
Every  pulse  of  rectitude,  his  very  manhood,  rebels 
against  it,  and  so  long  as  a  single  vestige  of  right 
is  witliheld,  his  unconquerable  spirit  will  remain  firm 
and  strong  in  resistance.  It  is  only  insulting  to  oflfer 
him  pardon  from  an  unjust  sentence.     Go  to  the  cell 


58  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

and  offer  pardon  to  an  innocent  prisoner,  and  his  man- 
hood bids  him  spurn  you  as  an  insulter.  True,  he 
may  be  so  crushed  by  overpowering  tyranny  that,  to 
save  his  life,  he  may  accept  terms  called  merciful,  but 
he  does  not  accept  them  as  merc}^  neither  is  he  sin- 
cere, for  his  heart  rebels  in  the  very  act  of  submission. 

So  it  is  with  sinful  man.  So  long  as  he  does  not. 
admit  the  justice  of  God  in  his  condemnation,  he  can- 
not submit  to  a  Saviour  acceptably;  cannot  sincerely, 
thankfully  receive  sovereign,  undeserved  m.ercy;  and 
a  forced,  unwilling  acceptance  is  with  God  no  accept- 
ance at  all.  Therefore  in  the  text  God  is  first  pre- 
sented as  just,  which  the  sinner  must  fully  admit; 
then  He  is  presented  as  a  Saviour,  whom  the  guilty 
may  and  should  heartily  accept. 

By  writers  the  justice  of  God  has  been  divided  into 
relative,  particular,  judicial  and  absolute,  so  absolute 
that  v/ithout  any  regard  to  any  moral  qualities  in  the 
subject,  He  can  inflict  punishment,  can  subject  the 
most  innocent  creatures  to  suffering.  Such  a  monster 
would  be,  indeed,  a  terror!  But  as  God  is  not  judge 
of  any  innocent  moral  agents  in  this  world,  and  cannot 
show  such  a  disposition,  neither  do  we  receive  such 
as  the  character  of  God. 

While  these  nice  distinctions,  unlearned  questions 
and  strife  about  v/ords  may  do  to  fill  the  book  of 
the  polemic,  it  is  much  m.ore  interesting  to  us  to  know 
something  of  the  justice  of  God  as  the  governor  and 
judge  of  men,  His  lawful  subjects.  Not  to  prove  in 
this  relation  that  God  is  just,  for  to  attempt  to  prove 
by  reason  and  argument  anything  the  Bible  plainly 
asserts  is  to  discredit  the  Word  of  God,  and  be  guilty 
of  great  presumption. 

But  to  show  some  of  the  wavs  in  which  this  attribute 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  59 

is  manifested,  and  some  characteristics  of  it:  in  this, 
relation  of  ruler  and  judge,  justice  is  giving  every 
one  his  due,  under  an  equitable  law.  Then,  first,  the 
justice  of  God  appears  in  His  law.  He  has  given  His 
subjects  a  righteous  law,  adapted  to  their  nature  and 
powers.  Let  any  one  with  an  enlightened  judgment 
and  an  honest  conscience  examine  closely  every  pre- 
cept of  the  decalogue,  and  can  he  fail  to  admire  its 
purity,  that  requires  every  thought  and  feeling  to  be 
clean  and  every  deed  of  life  righteous;  and  can  he 
fail  to  admit  that  justice  is  stamped  on  every  word? 
So  extensively  is  this  truth  felt  that  you  may  examine 
the  statute  books  of  every  intelligent,  civilized  nation 
on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  any  enactment  of  free- 
dom, of  equity,  between  man  and  man  found  there, 
can  be  traced  in  its  principles  to  this  law;  and  it  is 
universally  admitted  to  be  the  standard  of  justice. 

Or  take  the  Golden  Rule,  the  sum  and  epitome  of" 
the  second  table  of  the  law,  and  how  irresistibly  is  the 
conviction  forced  upon  every  conscience  that  it  is  a 
just  standard  of  judgment.  Or  take  the  sum  and 
epitome  of  the  whole  law,  as  given  by  our  Saviour: 
"Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord,"  etc.  If  we  reflect  upon 
the  excellency  of  our  God  as  an  object  of  love,  His 
boundless  goodness.  His  innumerable  peerless  gifts 
bestowed  on  us  every  day  and  hour  and  moment  of 
life,  and  the  claims  of  our  fellow-men,  in  their  relation 
with  us  to  Him;  consider  all  these  things,  and  the 
mind  and  heart  can  find  refuge  from  conviction  of  its 
justice  only  in  rank,  daring  atheism,  and  in  that  only 
battles  against  it.  Men  must  either  deny  such  a 
God  as  our  Lord,  or  admit  the  justice  of  His  claim 
to  supreme  love.  And  all  the  commands  of  God  are 
right,  not  only  because  commanded  by  Him,  but  in- 


6o  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

herently  just  in  their  suitableness  to  the  nature  of 
things.  True,  the  wicked  may  find  objection  to  these 
laws,  just  as  the  robber,  seducer  and  murderer  may 
object  to  all  the  salutary  laws  of  the  land. 

"What  crimirxal  ever  felt  the  halter  draw 
With  any  good  opinion  of  the  law?" 

But  the  opinion  of  every  upright,  honest  heart  is 
that  of  David,  "I  esteem  all  Thy  precepts  concerning 
all  things  to  be  right." 

But  some  say  this  law  is  now  unjust,  because  the 
subjects  have  lost  the  moral  ability  to  obey  it! 
This  might  be  urged  with  some  show  of  reason  if 
the  power  had  been  taken  from  him  against  his  will. 
But  man  lost  the  power  by  his  own  voluntary  act,  and 
is  still  willing  to  do  without  it — in  truth,  does  not 
desire  to  possess  the  ability  when  oflfered  him;  and 
every  one  who  makes  this  objection  is  conscious  he 
does  not  obey  to  the  extent  of  his  power.  But  is  the 
objection  one  that  should  exonerate  the  transgressor? 
What  is  moral  inability?  It  is  simply  want  of  will, 
an  unwillingness  to  do  what  he  knows  he  should 
•and  could.  Try  it  in  an  earthly  court.  What  would 
you  think  of  a  thief  who  should  come  before  his  judge 
and  say,  "I  have  such  a  thieving  disposition,  such  a 
•delight  and  propensity  to  steal,  I  have  not  the  moral 
ability  to  obey  the  law  against  theft;  therefore,  that 
law  is  not  just!"  Is  he  not  far  more  daring  an  insulter 
■who  should  come  before  God,  saying,  *T  have  such 
a  wicked  heart,  I  cannot  obey  your  law — therefore 
it  is  unjust?"  And  conscience  tells  him  he  has  made 
his  heart  thus  wicked,  and  that  he  loves  its  very 
wickedness.  Could  conscience  but  speak  out,  its 
testimony  would  be,  "The  law  is  holy,  just  and  good, 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  6 1 

a  perfect  transcript  of  its  glorious  author,  a  faithful 
expression  of  His  justice,  and  the  condemnation  of 
every  transgressor  a  righteous  judgment.  What  here 
and  now  aggravates  man's  sin  far  more  is  that  restora- 
tion is  offered,  the  strengthening  grace  of  the  Divine 
Spirit,  a  new  heart  and  a  right  spirit,  which  he 
refuses!" 

But  laws  must  be  enforced  or  they  become  mere 
counsels  or  admonitions.  Rewards  and  penalties  are 
seals  of  authority,  and  justice  demands  that  these  be 
proportioned  to  the  services  and  ofrences.  Then  are 
the  rewards  and  penalties  to  God's  law  in  this  reapect 
equitable?  True,  God  was  not  under  any  obligation 
to  offer  specific  rewards  for  obedience,  for  obedience 
was  our  duty  and  brings  its  own  reward.  It  is  for 
man's  happiness  here  to  obey  every  statute  and  pre- 
cept of  God's  law.  But  if  we  had  kept  them  all  per- 
fectly, we  could  but  have  said,  "We  are  unprofitable 
servants  to  our  Maker."  But  surely  there  is  no  injus- 
tice in  God's  promising  a  reward,  or,  if  it  exceed  what 
the  service  deserves!  But  as  by  transgression  we 
have  lost  all  hope  of  reward  in  our  own  right,  it  only 
remains  to  consider  whether  a  just  penalty  for  trans- 
gression is  affixed  to  the  law  of  God.  The  penalty 
clearly  written  in  the  book  is,  "Depart  from  Me;  these 
shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment."  If  the 
penalty  is  too  light,  justice  is  defrauded;  if  too  severe, 
the  subject  suffers  tyranny  and  cruelty.  But  the 
guilty  are  not  disposed  to  complain  that  it  is  too  light, 
and  who  has  the  right  or  is  competent  to  say  that  it 
is  too  severe?  Will  the  judge  leave  it  to  the  criminal 
to  say  what  his  penalty  shall  be?  Three  things  are 
needful  to  fit  one  to  judge  a  penalty: 

First.  He  maist  be  able  to  comprehend  fully  the 
guilt  and  evil  of  violating  a  law. 


„62  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

Second.  He  must  be  able  to  comprehend  fully  the 
rightful  claims  of  the  law  maker. 

Third.  He  must  fully  comprehend  the  penalty 
enacted. 

Then  where  is  the  created  intellect  that  can  do  this, 
measure  the  bounds  of  iniquity  and  weigh  in  balances 
the  guilt  of  the  transgression?  Can  finite  tell  us  the 
evil  of  sin?  The  least  sin  which,  in  its  influence,  like 
the  pestilence  borne  on  the  widening  onward  circling 
waves  of  the  air,  spreads  ruin  and  putrid  death  in 
its  ceaseless  march,  sin,  in  the  aggregate,  that  dragged 
an  angel  host  from  heaven  and  wrecked  our  beautiful 
world,  leaving  it  a  corrupt  and  perishing  thing,  a 
mighty  moral  ruin,  marked  with  blood,  carnage  and 
desolation  in  the  footsteps  of  the  destroyer! 

Who  can  measure  the  extent  and  effect  of  the  first 
act  of  disobedience,  that  "brought  death  into  our 
world  and  all  our  woe?"  But  if  we  cannot  compass 
the  wide  ruin  or  weigh  the  awful  sinfulness  of  sin, 
we  are  surely  unfit  to  fix  or  judge  the  penalty  affixed 
to  the  Divine  law.  Then  the  dignity  and  claim  of  the 
great  Law-maker  is  as  far  beyond  our  comprehension. 
Can  finite  powers  measure  infinite  perfections,  or 
compass  the  claim  of  God's  justice?  Then  we  are 
unfit  to  judge  His  penalty.  In  human  governments 
penalties  are  graded  according  to  the  character  of  the 
crime  and  position  of  the  person  ofifended.  A  slight 
olifense  against  a  ruler  is  far  more  criminal  than 
against  a  subject,  because  it  strikes  at  the  welfare  or 
life  of  a  whole  people  or  nation.  Murder  and  treason 
for  this  reason  are  punished  with  death  or  imprison- 
ment for  life,  and  the  ofifender  is  regarded  a  criminal 
as  long  as  he  lives.  Then  why  should  not  a  sinner 
against  the  great  and  infinite  God,  and  when  divined 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  63 

must  forever  be  a  sinner,  why  should  not  his  penaky 
be  banishment  from  God,  and,  consequently,  endless 
misery?  Every  candid,  enlightened  conscience  must 
feel  that  there  is  an  equitable  proportion  in  the  awful 
punishment,  and  the  crime  so  boundless  in  its  destruc- 
tiveness,  committed  against  such  greatness  and  good- 
ness! Paul  exclaims,  "Is  God  unrighteous,"  etc. 
The  very  nature  of  justice  forbids  anything  less  than 
satisfaction  to  the  full  claims  of  the  law.  Paul,  in 
Romans  iii,  says,  "God  set  forth  to  be  a  propitiation, 
.  .  .  to  declare  His  righteousness;"  but  if  sin  could 
be  pardoned  without  satisfaction  to  the  law,  the  suf- 
fering of  Christ  was  not  a  declaration  of  the  righteous- 
ness, but  of  the  unrighteousness,  of  God!  But  there 
is  no  pardon,  no  mercy,  in  unsatisfied  justice.  If  all 
the  millions  of  earth  and  all  the  angelic  host  of  heaven 
prostrate  should  plead  before  the  throne  of  God,  they 
could  not  secure  the  pardon  of  a  single  sin!  But  the 
guiltiest  transgressor  on  earth  may  bend  his  knee 
before  God  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  and  fnid 
mercy,  for  justice  is  satisfied  in  Him.  But  laws  may 
be  a  perfect  expression  of  equity,  be  suited  to  the 
nature  of  subjects,  and  enforced  by  adequate  penalty, 
but  another  clear  manifestation  of  justice  is  in  their 
impartial  execution.  We  often  reason  of  God's 
benevolence,  wisdom  and  justice,  from  the  same  attri- 
butes among  men,  and,  comparing  God's  proceedings 
with  human  administrations,  we  talk  of  strict,  impar- 
tial, inflexible  justice;  but  strictly,  no  adjectives  can 
be  applied  to  justice  at  all.  The  true  definition  of 
justice  is  all  the  demands  of  a  righteous  law  satisfied, 
either  by  obedience  or  suffering,  or  both.  Anything 
less  is  fraud — anything  more  is  tyranny.  The  attempt 
to  administer  such  equity  by  men  may  be  defeated 


64  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

in  many  ways.  Ten  thousand  transgressions  may 
escape  punishment  through  the  ignorance  of  human, 
executives — want  of  integrity  with  the  judges  of  earth, 
want  of  ability  to  execute  the  laws,  may  defeat  their 
claims;  place  and  power  may  secure  the  offender. 
Kings  and  conquerors  may  commit  with  impunity 
crimes  that  would  hang  the  peasant  or  private  robber; 
the  wealthy  may  corrupt  the  witnesses,  bribe  the 
judge,  or  pervert  both  testimony  and  law;  or  lawyers, 
by  entreating  eloquence,  may  delude  the  judgment, 
or,  by  cunning  sophistry,  may  blind  and  mislead  the 
court. 

But  none  of  these  things  can  affect  the  justice  of 
God.  The  omniscient,  searching  eye  of  God  can  see 
all  transgression,  whether  the  thought  or  emotion  of 
the  soul,  or  the  deed  of  the  life;  His  spotless  purity  and 
unswerving  integrity  will  not  suffer  them  to  escape, 
and  His  omnipotence  can  punish  them  all.  The  frown 
of  royalty  or  the  bravado  of  the  conqueror  has  no 
power  before  the  almighty  Judge,  but  the  king  of 
Babylon  is  driven  out  to  dwell  with  the  beasts  of  the 
field,  and  Bonaparte  perishes  in  lonely  exile.  Obscur- 
ity cannot  hide  the  criminal;  the  guilt  of  the  despised 
pauper  and  the  deed  of  the  stealthy  midnight  assassin 
are  clear  before  the  brightness  of  His  face.  All  the 
wealth  of  earth  could  not  buy  favor  at  that  court,  nor 
corrupt  the  Judge  of  heaven;  and  though  Noah,  Job 
and  Daniel  should  plead,  they  could  not  turn  aside 
justice,  and  no  art  nor  sophistry  can  there  shield  the 
accused!  Job  says,  "The  work  of  a  man  will  He 
render  unto  him,  and  cause  every  man  to  find  accord- 
ing to  his  ways;  yea,  surely  God  will  not  do  wickedly, 
neither  will  the  Almighty  pervert  judgment." 

If  justice  can  be  defined  at  all  by  adjectives,  God's 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  65 

justice  is  most  emphatically  strict,  impartial,  inflexible 
justice.  Of  all  that  have  ever  been  called  to  judg- 
ment, not  a  single  sin,  whether  the  slightest  offence 
of  omission,  or  the  bold,  crimson  crime;  whether  the 
thought  of  the  heart,  or  the  darkest  deed  of  life,  not 
a  single  sin  has  passed  unpunished;  and  of  all  the 
millions  who  must  yet  stand  at  the  bar  of  God,  not 
a  single  sin  will  pass  unpunished — the  penalty  must  be 
endured  for  every  transgression  of  every  soul  that 
ever  has  lived,  or  ever  shall  live,  to  the  end  of  time. 
This  only  is  justice.  He  who  cannot  find,  or  will  not 
accept  a  sufficient  substitute,  must  suffer  for  himself 
or  herself! 

But  it  is  objected  that  the  distribution  of  rewards 
and  penalties  in  this  life  are  not  just,  that  we  often 
see  the  wicked  prosper  and  flourish,  and  the  good 
poor  and  afflicted.  In  the  strict  sense  of  justice, 
rewards  and  penalties  are  not  distributed  at  all  in 
this  life.  Should  we  complain  that  justice  is  defrauded 
by  the  imprisoned  malefactor  awaiting  execution,  or 
the  criminal  given  a  few  days'  reprieve  by  the  gover- 
nor? Or  that  God  gives  a  short  respite  to  the  guilty 
of  earth?  Poor,  guilty  rebels  are  but  sporting  in  their 
prison  cell,  and  the  few  drops  of  wrath  that  fall  upon 
them  here  is  but  an  intimation,  an  assurance,  a  security 
that  the  full  flood  of  wrath  shall  be  poured  upon  them 
hereafter.  It  seems  the  Psalmist  was  once  disposed 
to  complain  of  the  present  administration.  Psalms 
Ixxiii:  3,  13,  16,  17:  "For  1  was  envious  at  the 
foolish,  when  I  saw  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked.  .  .  . 
Verily,  I  have  cleansed  my  heart  in  vain,  and  washed 
my  hands  in  innocency.  When  I  thought  to  know 
this  it  was  too  painful  for  me;  until  I  went  into  the 
sanctuarv  of  God;  then  understood  I  their  end." 


66  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

If  any  are  tempted,  like  the  Psalmist,  to  be  envious, 
let  their  faith  stretch  out  and  stand  before  the  supreme 
and  final  court  of  appeal  on  the  great  day  of  assize, 
when  the  throne  of  judgment  is  set,  when  the  books 
are  opened  and  the  dead,  small  and  great,  stand  before 
God.  There  will  be  no  king,  royal  power  or  con- 
queror recognized  there — no  wealth,  attorney  nor 
learning  will  influence  that  court;  no  poverty,  title 
nor  rank  will  stand  at  that  tribunal;  it  will  be  a  con- 
gregation of  human  beings,  of  unappendaged,  of 
unvarnished  men,  of  plain,  unceremonious,  earthly 
beings,  of  all  but  moral  character  bereft,  and  their 
deeds  of  good  or  ill  will  be  as  clear  before  the  Judge 
as  if  they  had  embodied  form.  The  revengeful 
thought  as  plain  as  the  midday  murder — the  cheating 
theft  of  the  tradesman  as  plain  as  that  of  the  highway 
robber,  the  guilt  of  the  avaricious,  that  never  gave  an 
alms,  as  clear  as  that  of  him  who  trod  upon  the  poor, 
and  drove  the  slave  to  his  unpaid  toil  at  the  end  of 
a  bloody  lash ;  the  whispered  slander  as  clear  as  the 
loudest  blasphemy;  the  wanton  leer  and  lustful  look 
will  wear  a  stamp  as  vile  as  the  harlot's  brow! 

There  will  be  no  secret  sins,  no  masked  iniquity 
there,  but  all  will  be  clear  before  the  brightness  of  the 
Son  of  man!  "All  that  have  sinned  without  the  law," 
etc. 

And  when  the  final  sentence  is  pronounced,  the 
angelic  host  of  heaven  and  the  redeemed  from  earth 
will  respond,  "Just  and  true  are  Thy  ways.  Thou  King 
of  saints!" 

But  the  justice  of  God  is  not  without  witnesses  on 
earth,  and  some  instances  of  retribution  here  give 
assurances  of  the  impartial  decisions  of  the  last  great 
day,  that  men  may  not  forget  nor  deny  that  there  is 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  67 

a  God  that  judgeth  in  the  earth.  The  conscience 
often  brings  to  the  soul  convictions  of  this  attribute. 
This  deputy  of  God  compels  persons  to  judge  and 
condemn  or  acquit  themselves,  brings  sins  in  review 
before  the  soul,  and  by  a  law  holy,  just  and  good, 
whether  written  in  the  Word  or  on  the  heart,  by  this 
measures  life,  and  before  conscience  justifies  the  judg- 
ment of  God. 

Therefore,  among  the  pagans,  where  God  has  no 
written  law,  the  conscience  accuses  or  excuses.  Every 
victim  that  bleeds  on  heathen  altars,  every  pang  the 
deluded  Rom.anist  or  pagan  feels  from  self-inflicted 
torture,  is  an  admission  of  guilt  and  testifies  to  fear 
of  just  punishment. 

But  often,  in  great  peril  or  a  dying  hour,  conscience 
extorts  from  the  guilty  soul  the  fullest  testimony  for 
justice  in  a  future  judgment.  The  criminal  who  may 
elude  the  officer,  or,  being  girt  with  power,  may  defy 
earthly  tribunals,  conscience  drags  before  its  bar, 
arrays  his  guilt  before  him,  strips  off  the  specious 
pretense  that  God  may  be  gentle  and  merciful  toward 
transgression,  tears  away  the  mantle  of  sophistry, 
rends  the  last  shred  of  hope,  and  leaves  him  morally 
naked  before  his  own  eyes;  and  as  he  looks  on  death, 
could  his  terrors  speak,  their  language  would  be  a 
fearful  looking  for  justice  in  judgment. 

There  is  also  in  human  life  that  which  confirms  the 
dictates  of  conscience.  Happiness,  health  and  peace 
follow  in  the  paths  of  piety  and  virtue,  while  disease, 
suffering  and  misery  crowed  the  path  of  vice.  And 
history  writes  some  terrible  examples  of  justice  in 
earthly  judgments.  God  saw  the  wickedness  of  man, 
that  it  was  great  in  the  earth,  and  every  desire  of  his 
heart  evil,  and  with  an  overflowing  flood  He  washed 


68  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

it  clean.  Death  reaped  the  whole  harvest  of  human 
souls  in  a  few  days,  save  eight,  and  who,  standing 
with  Noah  on  the  mountain  top,  could  have  doubted 
the  justice  of  God  as  he  saw  the  waters  dried  from  the 
carcasses  of  a  buried  world!  Abraham,  the  friend 
of  God,  pled  for  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  but  the  cry 
of  their  foul  sin  had  gone  up  before  the  just  Judge, 
and  He  consumed  them  in  His  anger — their  smoke 
ascended  as  the  smoke  of  a  furnace,  and  stagnant 
waters  now  cover  the  place  of  the  cities  of  the  plain. 

Egypt,  once  the  prince  of  kingdoms,  the  seat  of 
science,  the  treasure-house  of  learning  and  the  granary 
of  the  East,  that  gathered  her  wealth  from  the  rich 
valleys  of  the  Nile,  said  in  her  pride,  "My  river  is  mine 
own;  I  made  it  for  myself."  And  she  worshipped  the 
work  of  her  own  hands,  and  trod  God's  Hebrew 
children  under  the  iron  heel  of  cruel  slavery.  And 
her  rivers  were  dried  up,  her  valleys  made  hot,  sandy 
solitudes — she  became  the  basest  of  kingdoms,  scarcely 
reckoned  among  the  nations  at  all. 

Babylon,  the  glory  of  the  Chaldee's  excellency,  that 
said  she  should  never  be  a  widow,  should  never  be 
desolate — yet  for  generations  bitterns  stalked  through 
the  dank  pools  settled  in  her  palaces,  owls  hooted 
through  her  gloomy  ruins.  The  shepherd  would  not 
make  his  fold  there,  nor  the  Arabian  pitch  tent  there, 
the  wild  beast  of  the  desert  made  his  lair  there,  and 
dragons  in  her  pleasant  places.  Babylon  was  swept 
with  the  besom  of  destruction,  and  it  is  doubtful  if 
the  true  locality  on  earth  is  now  known.  And  Jeru- 
salem, that  was  the  joy  of  all  lands,  the  glory  of  the 
whole  earth,  the  city  of  the  great  king,  but  in  her 
skirts  was  found  the  blood  of  poor  innocents;  she 
washed  not  her  heart  from  pollution  in  the  day  of  her 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  69 

merciful  visitation,  but  crucified  her  Messiah,  and  her 
famishing  children  were  made  to  eat  their  own  flesh, 
the  mother  dressed  her  own  babe  for  food,  the  city's 
strong  walls  were  battered  down,  the  magnificent 
temple  burned,  Zion  was  plowed  as  a  field,  and  her 
children,  homeless,  strangers,  are  an  astonishment, 
a  proverb  and  a  by- word,  among  all  nations!  God 
looketh  on  the  earth  and  it  trembleth.  He  shaketh 
the  pillars  of  the  world  and  the  inhabitants  stagger 
like  drunken  men,  and  the  gaping  earthquake  closes 
her  lips  over  mighty  cities;  He  toucheth  the  moun- 
tains and  they  burn  until  a  flooded  continent  boils  like 
a  cauldron  with  the  tide  of  hot  lava!  He  calls  for 
meager  famine,  till  hungry,  haggard  and  hollow-eyed 
men  lie  down  and  die.  He  sends  pestilence  and  strews 
€arth  with  putrid  carcasses,  that  want  a  grave. 

These  are  a  few  examples  of  avenging  justice,  that 
show  the  Divine  hatred  of  sin.  But,  above  all  other 
manifestations  of  Divine  justice,  the  sufferings  of 
Christ  most  clearly  and  impressively  reveal  the  im- 
measurable guilt  of  sin,  the  extent  of  the  law's  claim, 
and  the  unyielding  and  inflexible  justice  of  God.  So 
great  the  guilt  of  sin,  no  other  life  but  that  of  the 
Son  could  atone  for  it!  So  great  the  claims  of  the 
law,  nothing  less  could  satisfy  them!  So  inflexible 
the  justice  of  God,  it  could  not  spare  His  only  Son! 
Three  times  the  suflPering  Saviour  said,  "O  Father, 
if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  Me!"  But 
to  save  a  sinner  this  was  not  possible  even  with  God, 
to  whom,  it  is  said,  all  things  are  possible!  While 
He  bore  the  guilt  of  His  people,  the  Almighty  hand 
could  not  turn  aside  the  sword  of  justice  from  His 
own  Son!  For  surely,  if  it  had  been  possible,  God 
would  have  spared  His  innocent  Son!     If  the  cattle 


TO 


THE  GOLDEN  FOT. 


and  flocks  of  earth,  slaughtered  in  numberless  heta- 
combs,  could  have  atoned  for  guilt;  if  the  coffered 
millions  of  the  wealthy,  or  the  disemboweled  treasures 
of  the  universe,  could  have  purchased  pardon — nay, 
if  our  whole  guilty  race,  suffering  for  ages,  could  have 
satisfied  justice,  surely  God  would  have  spared  His 
only.  His  well  beloved  Son!  But  unrelenting,  un- 
abating  justice  holds  even  the  balances,  and  God  must 
lay  on  the  full  weight  of  wrath  for  the  guiltless  Jesus! 
Such  a  display  of  justice  man  or  angel  has  never  seen 
before,  and  will  never  see  again,  not  even  on  that 
great  day,  even  if  millions  are  driven  from  Him  to 
endless  woe.  For  the  suffering  of  Christ  in  the  judg- 
ment of  God  gave  full  satisfaction  to  Divine  justice, 
which  a  whole  condemned  world  could  not  do  in 
numberless  ages  of  agony.  And  is  it  not  an  awful 
argument  for  the  justice  of  God  that  it  abated  nothing 
of  its  rigor  when  it  judged  the  Son  of  God? 

If  any  would  delude  himself  with  the  thought  that 
the  essential  goodness  and  mercy  of  God  is  a  ground 
of  hope  for  the  guilty,  let  him  look  on  Calvary,  where 
personal  innocence  suffered,  and  tremble.  No,  God 
is  harmonious  in  all  His  perfections,  therefore  He  is 
strictly,  impartially,  perfectly  just.  Then  it  becomes 
to  us  an  interesting,  an  all-important,  an  alarming 
question — how  can  guilty  man  be  saved?  How  can 
such  a  just  God  be  a  Saviour,  a  just  Saviour?  This 
He  cannot  be  until  the  demands  of  the  law  are  ful- 
filled. It  is  vain  to  pray,  to  reform,  to  plead  for 
mercy — God  cannot  pardon  until  Divine  justice  is 
satisfied.  But  wnat  can  appease  such  anger,  what  can 
atone  for  such  guilt,  what  can  propitiate,  what  honor 
such  justice?  Will  deep,  pungent  sorrow  for  sin,  true 
repentance,  secure  mercy?     Try  this  before  a  human 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  yi 

tribunal.  Let  the  criminal  candidly  confess  his  guilt, 
witli  the  most  earnest  sincerity  his  sorrow,  promise 
reformation  and  plead  for  mercy.  Will  the  law  relax 
its  iron  grasp  and  the  relenting  judge  discharge  the 
convict.  Certainly  not.  Then  how  dare  plead  this 
at  the  bar  ot  God,  especially  when  you  remember  that 
repentance  is  your  duty,  and  His  gift?  Will  you 
satisfy  the  law  with  rich  offerings,  and  appease  an 
offended  judge  with  costly  sacritices?  Then  where 
in  all  the  universe  will  you  find  such  rich  offerings, 
such  costly  sacrifices?  Gather  all  the  glittering  trea- 
sures of  earth,  slay  the  cattle  and  flocks  on  a  thousand 
hills,  and  will  this  be  acceptable,  or  have  you  given 
the  great  Creator  anything?  "Behold,  Lebanon  is 
not  sufficient,"  etc. 

"Will  the  Lord  be  pleased?"  etc.  Neither  would 
this  be  sufficient. 

What,  then,  can  we  do?  Here  all  the  research  and 
wisdom  of  man  are  vain,  and  the  intellect  of  angels  is 
baffled!  Omniscient  wisdom  alone  can  conceive  and 
omnipotent  power  alone  accomplish  salvation,  and 
even  God  is  represented  as  laboring  and  searching 
to  find  a  way.  Listen.  "Deliver  from  going  down 
to  the  pit,  I  have  found  a  ransom;"  "Behold,  the  Lamb 
of  God,  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world." 
Christ  comes  a  voluntary  sacrifice,  who  has  a  right 
to  lay  down  His  life,  and  the  power  to  take  it  again. 
He  is  made  subject  to  the  law,  and  acknowledges  the 
justice  of  its  claims  by  a  life  of  obedience,  keeping 
every  precept,  both  in  letter  and  spirit,  heart  and  life. 
He  acknowledges  the  justice  of  its  penalty  by  turning 
its  thirsty  sword  from  guilty  man,  to  sheathe  it  in 
His  own  heart!  He  drank  the  cup  of  God's  fierce 
anger  and  endured  the  agony  of  a  soul  condemned 


72 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


to  die,  and  the  purity  of  the  sacrifice,  the  infinite  value 
of  the  offering,  and  the  dignity  of  the  sulTerer,  magni- 
fied the  law,  and  when  upon  the  cross  He  cried,  "It 
is  finished,"  justice  was  satisfied,  and  God  could  be 
a  just  God  and  a  just  Saviour  for  all  who,  by  faith 
in  Christ,  accept  this  satisfaction. 

Now  there  is  light;  the  gloom  is  dispelled;  the 
darkness  is  gone,  and  the  way  is  clear;  man  may  now 
plead,  for  God  can  pardon;  now  the  sinner  can  hope, 
for  God  can  have  mercy.  As  before  the  justice  of 
God  secured  the  sinner's  condemnation,  now  it  is 
pledged  for  the  salvation  of  those  who  are  in  Christ. 
For  when  the  law  is  satisfied,  God  cannot  condemn, 
and  "Jesus  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law  for  righteous- 
ness to  every  one  that  believeth."  And  "He  is  faith- 
ful and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins  and  to  cleanse  us 
from  all  unrighteousness." 

He  can  be  the  Saviour  of  all  who  come.  He  can 
save  from  the  guilt  of  sin,  love  of  sin  and  pollution  of 
sin,  for  He  has  promised  thus  to  save,  and  He  is  a 
just  God  and  a  just  Saviour. 

I  close  with  one  question — I  cannot  answer  it, 
angels  cannot,  I  know  not  if  God  can — He  never  has, 
yet  asks  it  of  us,  "How  can  we  escape  if  we  neglect 
so  great  salvation?" 


v^  V. 


Moral  Distance;  or,  Border-land  Loyalty. 

'■'■Only  ye  shall  not  go  very  far  away,'''  Exodus  viii:    28. 

Rebellious   Pharoah   was   cunning  and   crafty.     If 
they  would  not  sacrifice  in  the  land,  then  he  would 
let  the  men  go  into  the  wilderness  to  worship,  but 
they  must  leave  their  women  and  children;  or,  if  they 
took  these,  they  must  leave  their  flocks  and  herds, 
and  they  must  promise  not  to  "go  very  far  away." 
If  they  left  their  wives  and  children,   Egypt  would 
have  a  hold  on  them;  if  they  left  their  flocks  and 
herds,  Moses  could  not  keep  them  away.     If  they  did 
not  go  very  far  away,  they  could  be  enticed,  or  forced, 
back.     This  is  Satan-like.     He  is  willing  sinful  men 
shall  go  a  little  way  on  the  road  to  the  promised  land, 
as  far  as  reformation  and  morality  will  carry  them, 
as  far  as  respectable,  fashionable  social  life  may  re- 
quire; nay,  they  may  go  as  far  as  the  Church  and  a 
profession,  if  they  have  a  worldly,  godless  wife  or 
husband  outside,  or  if  they  leave  all  their  wealth  and 
conduct  all  their  business  in  Egypt,  according  to  their 
ways  and  maxims.     They  have  not  gone  far  enough 
to  trouble  his  Satanic  majesty;  they  will  come  back — 
in  truth,  they  have  not  gone  away  at  all.     The  design 
of  this  discourse  is  to  show  what  moral  distance  is,  its 
influence  and  safety.     The  Devil's  device  is  not  to  let 
men  get  very  far  away  from  him,  or  from  their  sin  and 
temptation.     God's  command  and  advice  is,  get  far 
from  iniquity — stand  afar  ofT.     Moral  distance  cannot 
be  measured  with  Gunter's  Chain.     It  cannot  be  esti- 


74  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

mated  by  so  many  miles,  or  so  many  leagues.  The 
literal  space  between  two  persons  may  be  but  the 
width  of  a  wall,  or  a  dooryard,  yet  the  moral  separation 
wide  as  the  poles.  When  the  Israelites  had  put  their 
full  three  days'  journey  on  foot  between  them  and 
Egypt,  yet  by  a  railway  train  we  would  surely  not  have 
called  it  far  away.  Yet  when  they  were  behind  Horeb 
and  the  cloud  and  pillar  of  fire,  and  thundering, 
burning  Sinai  was  between  them  and  the  field  of 
Zoan,  they  were,  in  a  moral  sense,  farther  from  Egypt 
than  if  they  had  been  on  the  western  border  of 
America.  Abraham  and  Dives  could  talk  together, yet 
there  was  a  gulf  between  them,  and  they  were  as 
widely  separated  as  heaven  and  hell. 

There  is  imminent  danger  in  nearness  to  evil — to 
temptation.  When  there  is  but  a  little  space  betweea 
the  soul  and  some  coveted  evil,  there  is  great  danger 
of  the  two  coming  together  again — of  its  returning  to- 
it.  Pharoah  seems  to  have  thought  so.  When  he 
began  to  think  he  would  be  compelled  to  let  Israel  go, 
his  cunning,  Satanic  command  was:  "Only  ye  shall 
not  go  very  far  away."  If  he  could  prevent  Israel 
from  going  beyond  the  influence  of  Egypt,  keep  them 
from  going  far  enough  to  wean  them  from  its  associa- 
tions, far  enough  to  forget  its  flesh-pots  and  lusts;  if 
he  could  keep  their  children  there,  or  even  part  of 
their  cattle  there,  he  would  have  power  to  bring  them 
back.  So  with  man's  danger  from  any  evil;  only  keep 
him  and  the  evil  thing — the  temptation — near  enough 
together  to  stretch  any  cord  between  them,  and  that 
soul  is  yet  under  the  power  of  that  enemy,  and  in  great 
danger.  This  arises  from  the  corruption  of  man's 
nature;  because  of  his  depravity  he  is  susceptible  to 
evil  influence — temptation    has    an    attractive,  com- 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  75. 

manding  power  over  him.  Nearness  in  many  things 
is  dangerous  because  of  their  nature.  A  powder- 
magazine  and  an  iron  furnace  in  blast  would  hardly 
be  safe  side  by  side;  the  wolf  and  the  lamb  could 
scarcely  be  safely  folded  together;  the  nature  of  one 
or  the  other  must  be  changed.  Neal  Dow,  it  is  possi- 
ble, might  live  safely  next  door  to  a  grog-shop;  but 
to  thousands  it  would  be  a  place  of  ruin.  If  Samson's^ 
heart  had  been  right  in  his  Nazarite  vow,  he  might 
have  lain  his  head  in  Delilah's  lap  in  safety;  but 
because  of  his  nature  and  the  state  of  his  heart,  it  was 
the  pillow  of  death  for  him.  The  Devil  is  very  willing 
to  lengthen  men's  tether,  and  let  them  think  they 
lengthened  it  themselves;  he  is  very  vvdlling  they  shall 
go  a  little  v/ay,  and  flatter  themselves  they  are  free 
men,  and  can  go  where  they  please.  But  if  he  can 
prevent  their  going  very  far  away,  they  are  as  secure 
as  he  desires.  A  man  wakens  to  the  consciousness 
that  he  is  becom.ing  a  drunkard,  that  he  is  infatuated 
and  becoming  enslaved  to  strong  drink.  "What  a 
fool  I  am!"  he  exclaims;  "I  am  suffering  appetite  to 
master  me;  I  have  abused  myself;  I  must  quit  this." 
What  does  he  do?  Does  he  say,  "I  must  renounce 
this  teetotally  and  forever;  I  must  put  a  wide  distance 
between  me  and  the  gilded  hall  and  its  companions; 
T  must  secure  an_eternal  divorce  from  all  its  influence 
and  temptations?"  No,  no!  He  says:  "I  have  been 
abusing  myself;  I  must  use  it  more  temperately;  I  will 
take  my  glass  of  wine  or  ale  at  my  meals,  and  limit 
myself  at  the  club."  Methinks  a  smiling  Devil  says, 
"Not  gone  very  far  away;  he'll  be  back."  Another 
victim  goes  farther.  He  has  quit  frequenting  the  bar 
and  the  beer  hall,  and  wears  a  blue  or  a  red  ribbon; 
but  the  Devil  says,  "Not  gone  very  far;  only  moved 


76  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

round  the  corner  into  the  next  square;  I  will  drop 
in  and  see  him  some  Sabbath  evening,  and  ask  him 
to  take  a  walk  with  me."  Truly,  the  Devil  is  right; 
there  is  a  short  physical  space,  but  no  moral  distance 
at  all.  The  tether  is  only  a  little  lengthened,  but 
fastened  at  both  ends.  As  another  illustration,  take 
the  sad  case — unhappily  very  frequent — of  the  man 
who  became  convinced  of  the  truth  that  he  is  guilty 
before  God,  morally  corrupt,  selfish,  unclean,  in  peril 
and  unhappy.  What  does  he  do?  Does  he  say:  "I 
will  candidly  confess  my  sinfulness,  and  m.ake  a  full 
surrender  to  Jesus  Christ  the  Saviour  of  sinners,  and 
give  my  life  to  be  ruled  by  His  Spirit  and  law,  and 
walk  in  His  ordinances?"  No!  But  he  says:  "I  must 
-quit  these  flagrant  transgressions;  I  must  correct  these 
immoralities;  I  must  reform  my  life  and  join  some 
church."  The  Devil  says,  with  a  grin:  "Not  gone 
very  far;  only  an  eighteen-inch  wall  between  me  and 
him,  and  the  door  is  open."  He  has  not  changed  a 
whit,  only  in  fancy;  he  thinks  he  has  moved  to  Jeru- 
salem, but  it  is  all  imagination;  he  is  living  in  Sodom 
yet.  It  is  true,  there  has  been  natural  motion  and 
apparent  journeying,  but  no  moral  distance  attained 
at  all.  The  station  may  have  been  changed,  but  not 
the  state;  the  soul  is  still  in  the  atmosphere  of  evil, 
the  fire  and  the  tinder-box  are  yet  near  together,  the 
powder  and  the  match  are  side  by  side,  and  the  least 
friction  may  produce  explosion. 

You  m.ust  go  far  enough  not  only  to  stretch,  but 
break  the  tether  at  one  end  or  the  other.  You  must 
put  the  pillar  of  cloud  and  fire,  Horeb,  Sinai  and  the 
cross,  between  you  and  your  foes.  You  can  never 
be  in  safety  until  you  put  a  moral  distance  between 
you  and  your  foes  that  cannot  be  measured  by  any 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  yy 

mere  physical  space.  But  my  reader  may  ask,  What 
is  moral  distance?  A  full  and  clear  definition  of  it  is 
important  to  us.  It  is  not  determined  by  either 
square,  round  or  long  measure,  or  any  physical  space 
between.  Two  families  may  be  separated  by  only  a 
partition  wall,  yet  be  morally  as  wide  apart  as  east  and 
west.  During  our  late  war,  you  may  remember,  the 
loyalty  of  those  living  along  the  border  was  suspected, 
and  why?  Surely  not  simply  because  they  were  locally 
so  near  the  enemy's  land;  for  our  "Boys  in  Blue,"  who 
were  only  separated  from  Lee's  people  by  the  narrow 
little  Rapidan,  or  stood  face  to  face  with  them  on  the 
other  side,  were  above  all  suspicion.  Then  why  sus- 
pect of  disloyalty  others  who  only  lived  on  the  border- 
land? Because  it  was  supposed  they  held  rebellious 
sentiments  and  opinions;  that  their  interests,  impulses, 
feelings  and  desires  flowed  together  in  the  same  chan- 
nel with  the  other  side — that  is,  while  there  was  but 
a  short  physical  space  between  them,  there  was  no 
moral  distance  at  all. 

Moral  distance  is  measured  by  the  inclinations  of 
the  soul,  by  the  directions  and  impulses  of  the  desires 
of  the  heart,  by  the  position  of  the  affections  in  relation 
to  any  evil  thing  or  thought,  by  the  truths  or  principles 
that  impel  the  life  to  or  from  error  or  evil.  Let  a  man 
get  a  sight  of  an  evil,  of  a  temptation,  in  its  true  char- 
acter as  a  sin,  an  enemy,  a  danger;  then,  if  the  pulse  of 
spiritual  life  begins  to  beat  with  hatred  and  abhorrence 
of  it,  the  moral  distance  between  him  and  it  begins 
to  widen  rapidly.  Every  such  heart-throb  puts  him 
more  than  a  day's  journey  away,  though  he  may  not 
have  changed  his  local  position  at  all.  The  best  defi- 
nition of  genuine  repentance  ever  given  is:  "A  true 
sight  and  sense  of  sin,  and  with  grief  and  hatred  of  it, 


78  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

turning  from  it  unto  God."  It  is  this  soul-grief  for 
having  sinned  and  hatred  of  it  which  places  the  soul 
"very  far  away"  in  a  position  of  safety.  So  soon  as 
the  soul,  in  its  controlling  principles,  impulses,  desires 
and  affections,  begins  to  turn  away  from  any  sin  as 
abominable,  as  hateful,  because  sin,  a  day's  journey 
of  that  soul  towards  the  very  "far  off"  from  evil  lias 
never  been  measured. 

Thirty  years  ago,  if  you  had  placed  John  B.  Gough 
alone  on  Selkirk's  Island,  he  would  scarcely  have  been 
safer  from  drunkenness  than  he  is  walking  the  streets 
■of  New  York  to-day.  In  the  one  case  his  drunkenness 
would  have  been  a  physical  impossibility;  in  the  other, 
by  his  new  creation,  it  has  become  a  moral  impossi- 
bility. His  distance  from  the  grog-shop  now  is  not 
measured  by  so  many  doors,  so  many  streets,  or  so 
many  squares,  but  by  soul  beats  of  abhorrence  to  it, 
Tsy  battle  throbs  of  heart  against  it;  there  is  now  a 
"great  gulf"  between  him  and  that  liquid  hell.  So 
whenever  a  man's  soul  is  brought  into  such  a  state  as 
to  beat  heart-throbs  of  grief,  hatred  and  abhorrence 
of  any  and  every  form  of  his  sin,  of  temptation  and  evil, 
then  by  these  alone  you  can  measure  his  moral  dis- 
tance from  them ;  these  alone  put  him  "very  far  away," 
and  sadden  the  Devil's  hope  of  his  return.  There  is 
very  little  safety  in  mere  physical  separation,  in  so 
many  lengths  of  space  between  the  soul  and  its  tempta- 
tion, its  opportunity  to  transgress.  It  may  be  a  useful 
means  to  help  a  soul  that  is  a  victim  to  some  specific 
form  of  sin;  but  unless  the  moral  separation  and  dis- 
tance follow,  the  going  back  is  sure  by  and  by.  You 
may  wash  a  sow  clean;  but,  if  you  intend  to  keep  her 
clean,  you  must  lock  her  up  in  the  bureau  drawer. 
:So  long  as  she  has  the  hog  nature  she  will  go  back 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  79 

to  the  mire  if  she  has  a  chance.  But  let  any  man  or 
woman  secure  this  moral  separation  from  sin — this 
"very  far  away"  of  heart  hatred  of  evil — then  they 
may  walk  through  the  foulest  dens  of  guilt  and  misery 
in  your  sin-stained  city  as  untainted  as  the  holy  angels, 
who  perhaps  enter  them  in  pity  and  love. 

There  are,  perhaps,  men  among  the  gold-bags  and 
money-vaults  of  your  banks  and  exchanges,  among 
the  lynx-eyed,  greedy,  guilty  gambling  of  your  boards 
of  trade  and  centres  of  commerce,  that  are  doing 
business  uprightly  and  honorably,  gathering  the 
Lord's  treasure  to  use  for  the  Lord's  honor  and  the 
blessing  of  humanity;  but,  if  there  are,  their  souls,  by 
a  moral  separation,  are  more  than  a  three  days'  journey 
from  the  greed,  cheating  and  avarice  that  revel  there. 
After  Paul  saw  that  vision  on  the  road  to  Damascus, 
yon  might  have  set  him  in  the  midst  of  the  self- 
righteous  Sanhedrim;  they  might  have  all  lavished 
their  praises  on  him,  appealing  to  his  Jewish  pride 
and  family  fame;  they  might  have  offered  him  the 
pomp  of  position  and  all  the  glory  of  law  learning, 
yet  he  would  have  been  safe,  unmoved  by  it  all.  He 
could  have  said,  "I  have  suffered  the  loss  of  all  these 
things,  and  do  count  them  but  dung  that  I  may  win 
Christ."  His  soul  was  separated  by  an  immeasurable 
distance;  for  it  had  followed  the  heavenly  voice  heard 
"by  the  gates  of  Damascus,  and  was  up  where  Christ 
sitteth.  When  Jesus,  the  Holy  One,  laid  His  hand 
on  the  loathsome  leper,  or  talked  side  by  side  with 
the  harlot  at  Jacob's  well.  He  received  no  contagion; 
He  was  "very  far  away"  from  evil,  because  "holy, 
harmless,  undefiled,  and  separate  from  sinners"  by  a 
great  moral  distance.  For  safety,  contrary  to 
Pharaoh's  orders,  you  must  go  very  far  away,  not 


8o  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

only  in  miles  and  leagues,  but  in  heart;  it  must  be 
moral  distance.  Only  in  this  separation  is  there 
security;  but  there  is  absolute  safety  in  the  moral 
distance  of  a  three  days'  journey  in  heart  from  the 
presence  of  evil.  "Put  iniquity  far  from  thee,  saith 
the  Lord." 

How  to  secure  this  separation — how  to  attain  this 
moral  distance.  It  cannot  be  secured  by  mere  change 
of  location,  by  travelling  away  from  a  tempting  thing, 
or  from  the  place  of  transgression.  Seas  cannot 
separate  between  sin  and  the  sinner,  or  the  sinner  and 
danger,  except  the  red  sea  of  atoning  blood.  Change 
of  place  will  not  work  a  change  of  mind;  change  of 
climate  will  not  change  the  atmosphere  of  the  soul. 
The  cloister  cannot  shut  unbelief,  or  lust,  or  pride, 
or  selfishness,  or  carnality,  or  worldliness  out  of  the 
heart.  So  long  as  you  are  in  the  world,  you  cannot 
escape  the  presence  of  evil,  though  you  may  be  far 
from  it  in  heart,  just  as  you  cannot  flee  from  the  Divine 
presence;  "for  in  Him  we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our 
being;"  yet  you  may  be  far  from  God  in  heart.  Lot's 
wife  never  could  have  run  away  from  Sodom  if  she 
had  crossed  the  globe;  for  she  carried  Sodom  in  her 
heart.  That  was  the  reason  she  looked  back.  Yet 
some  men  are  foolish  enough  to  think  they  can  run 
away  from  a  bad  reputation,  from  their  temptations 
and  sins.  If  you  are  a  thief  or  liar,  you  may  flee  to 
Halifax;  but  the  news  will  reach  there  before  you.  If 
no  other  way,  "a  bird  of  the  air  shall  carry  the  voice, 
and  that  which  hath  v/ings  shall  tell  the  matter."  A 
drinker  canot  run  away  from  the  drinking  evil,  from 
the  leech  of  appetite.  He  will  find  it  in  every  land, 
among  all  people.  The  breath  of  this  vile  traffic 
encircles  the  globe  like  the  atmosphere.     You  may 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  8 1 

travel  fast  and  far,  cross  oceans,  movnitains  and  deserts, 
lodge  in  the  wilderness,  tent  on  the  plains  or  dwell 
in  caves,  bask  beneath  summer  skies  or  wrap  yourself 
in  furs  at  the  poles,  yet  the  gnawing  worm  will  grind 
away,  and  the  tainted  breath  will  fill  your  lungs.  You 
can  never  run  away  from  sin  or  danger  until  you  run 
away  from  self.  So  long  as  you  live  you  must  face 
evil,  stand  in  the  presence  of  danger,  and  walk  amid 
iniquity  and  temptation;  and  you  may  do  all  this,  yet 
be  very  far  away  from  evil.  How  to  secure  separation, 
how  to  attain  moral  distance,  is  the  question.  It  is 
secured  through  death,  by  the  power  of  Christ's  death 
over  the  soul.  You  remember  that  death-white  face 
you  looked  upon  in  your  house  one  evening.  In  the 
morning,  when  you  awoke,  he  had  not  returned. 
You  have  waited  for  years;  he  has  not  yet  come  back. 
He  has  gone  very  far  away.  Before  that  pale  face  bring 
all  the  power  of  the  evil  world  and  all  the  fascinations 
of  sin — they  move  it  not.  It  is  utterly  unconscious 
of  any  attractions  before  it.  Death  has  forever 
divorced  the  soul  and  these  things.  In  His  Word, 
God  uses  such  a  figure  as  illustrating  in  some  measure 
the  efifect  of  Christ's  death  upon  the  believing  soul, 
to  separate  it  from  sin,  to  deliver  it  from  the  fascina- 
tions of  evil  and  the  allurements  of  the  world.  We 
do  not  wish  to  convey  the  idea  that  the  believing  soul 
is  free  from  all  corruption  and  indwelling  sTh,  and  as 
insensible  to  all  temptation  to  evil  as  a  dead  body  is 
to  material  or  sensuous  influences;  but  that  through 
Christ's  death  there  comes  to  the  believer  such  a 
knowledge,  sight  and  im.pression  of  sin,  that  it  loses 
its  attractive,  fascinating  power,  and  becomes  hateful, 
and  the  soul  has  become,  in  some  sense  and  measure, 
dead  to  it.     Can  Paul's  language  mean  less  when  he 


82  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

says,  "Dead  indeed  unto  sin,"  "Crucified  with  Christ," 
•'The  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  the 
world  is  crucified  unto  me  and  I  unto  the  world?" 
What  can  this  mean  if  he  did  not  regard  the  world 
as  dead  to  him,  and  the  world  regarded  him  as  dead 
to  it?  Weare  far  from  accepting  the  doctrine  of  sinless 
perfection  in  this  life,  or  that  grace  utterly  destroys 
all  power  of  sin  in  the  body;  but  that  through  the 
power  of  Christ's  death  the  soul  is  enabled  to  walk 
amid  all  the  pollution,  guilt  and  temptations  of  earth 
without  being  overcome  by  them,  the  soul  regarding 
them  as  dead,  and  they  esteeming  that  soul  as  dead 
to  them.  Else  what  the  meaning  of  the  words  in 
defining  sanctification  in  our  catechism,  "More  and 
more  to  die  unto  sin?"  The  believing  soul  has  gone 
very  far  away,  following  Christ;  the  affections  are 
on  things  above,  where  Christ  sitteth,  and  every 
thought  is  brought  into  captivity  to  the  obedience  of 
Christ.  Through  the  truth  of  Christ's  death,  through 
faith  in  Christ's  death,  by  the  gracious  work  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  through  faith  in  this  truth,  the  soul  is 
brought  into  this  state  of  death  to  sin,  and  to  a 
resurrection  journey  of  three  days  from  it — a  moral 
distance  that  can  never  be  recrossed. 

But,  again,  this  moral  separation  is  secured,  this 
moral  distance  is  attained  through  life.  We  have  in 
the  Scriptures  these  striking  expressions:  "Dead 
indeed  unto  sin,  but  alive  unto  God  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord,"  "I  am  come  that  they  might  have 
life,"  "You  hath  He  quickened,"  "Created  anew  in 
Christ  Jesus,"  "A  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus."  And 
in  Ezekiel  God  says:  "A  new  heart  also  will  I  give 
vou,  and  a  new  spirit  will  I  put  within  you."  By  the 
operation  of  the  Spirit,  through  the  truth  as  it  is  in 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  83 

Jesus,  by  the  work  of  the  Spirit  through  the  love  of 
God  and  the  grace  that  is  in  Christ,  new  principles, 
emotions,  desires  and  affections  are  implanted  in  the 
heart;  new,  high,  holy,  heavenly  hopes,  objects  and 
aims  influence  the  life.  The  soul  is  brought  under 
principles  and  motives  that  impel  the  life  against  error 
and  evil,  and  make  the  heart  throb  with  grief  for 
having  sinned,  and  beat  with  hatred  against  all  the 
temptations,  pollutions  and  destructions  of  sin.  The 
man  is  still  made  to  stand  face  to  face  with  temptation 
and  sin;  but  he  is  a  new  man,  no  longer  a  rebel  in 
heart,  sympathizing  with  the  transgressor  or  the  trans- 
gression; but  a  loyal  soldier,  looking  the  foe  in  the 
face,  says  there  can  be  no  truce  between  us,  but  victory 
or  eternal  submission  for  one  or  the  other  is  the  only 
alternative.  As  God  carried  Israel  out  of  Egypt  a 
three  days'  journey,  so  through  His  truth,  through 
faith  in  Christ  Jesus,  He  puts  the  soul  into  a  state 
•of  death  to  sin,  and  carries  it  through  a  new  life  in 
Christ  very  far  away,  more  than  a  three  days'  journey 
toward  Canaan  land.  No  power  has  ever  been  found 
sufficient  to  effect  a  separation  between  the  soul  and 
:sin.  and  secure  a  safe  moral  distance  between  them, 
except  the  power  that  comes  through  the  death  and 
life  of  Christ  by  Divine  grace.  Mere  human  resolves 
and  purposes  are  too  weak;  the  influence  of  pride, 
self-respect,  fear  or  worldly  interests,  is  too  feeble; 
mere  mental,  or  even  moral  culture  and  intellectual 
training,  are  insufficient  to  effect  it.  All  law,  learning, 
philosophy  and  scientific  attainments  cannot  secure  it. 
All  these  forces  are  but  wisps  of  tow  in  the  soul's  flam- 
ing lusts,  or  green  withes  on  the  giant  arms  of  sin: 
only  Divine  cords  or  bands  cannot  be  cast  off  or 
troken;  only  Divine  barriers  can  resist  the  incoming 


84  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

sea  or  outgoing  flood ;  only  a  Divine  fortress  can  stand 
the  assaults  of  every  foe.  Faith  puts  the  pillar  of 
cloud  and  fire,  the  protection  of  a  gracious  God^ 
between  the  soul  and  its  foes,  as  these  separated  be- 
tween Israel  and  the  Egyptian  host.  Faith  takes  the 
soul  as  far  as  Horeb,  the  mount  of  God,  and  not  only 
puts  the  fiery  law  of  Sinai,  but  the  cross  of  Calvary, 
between  the  soul  and  its  guilt  and  sin,  that  they  may 
not  come  together.  Faith  not  only  puts  the  cross 
between  the  soul  and  the  descending  sword  of  justice, 
but  puts  Christ  and  the  empty  sepulchre  between  the 
soul  and  every  Egyptian  peril.  Faith  leads  the  soul 
as  far  away  as  the  fold  of  the  Lamb,  the  pavilion  of 
God,  and  while  it  is  yet  dwelling  on  earth  gives  it 
citizenship  with  angels;  therefore  Paul  says  our  citi- 
zenship is  in  heaven,  whence  also  we  look  for  the 
Saviour,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Faith  only  can  lead 
the  soul  far  enough  away  to  be  in  safety.  God  only 
can  enable  any  one  to  attain  a  moral  distance  from 
evil,  sin  and  danger. 

Satan  and  the  world  ever  plays  the  part  of  Pharaoh 
to  the  believer  or  professor  and  the  Church,  and  therQ 
is  reason  to  fear  that  many,  giving  heed  to  the  advice 
and  allurements  of  Satan  and  the  world,  have  not  gone 
"ver}^  far"  from  either.  The  world,  evil  influence, 
polluted  affections  and  wicked  devices,  touch  many 
professors  and  the  Church  at  almost  numberless  points. 
We  have  not  gone  very  far  from  the  devil's  fields  in 
our  literature.  Such  papers  as  the  New  York  Weekly, 
the  Boys  and  Girls  of  New  York,  the  Sunday  Herald 
and  Times,  and  a  large  number  of  others  whose  names 
it  is  needless  to  write,  and  the  "Beadle  Novels,"  the 
dime  and  nickel  series,  all  this  inflaming,  lying,  pol- 
luting, romancing,  is  a  more  pestiferous  and  destruc- 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  85 

tive  plague  than  the  locusts  and  lice  of  Egypt.  But 
much  of  what  is  called  Christian  writing  is  a  polluting 
■dalliance  with  sin  and  a  catering  to  vice.  It  touches 
vanity,  sensuality  and  selfishness  every  here  and  there. 
These  flow  through  the  rhythm  and  melody  of  our 
poetry  and  song,  both  sentimental  and  religious. 
Some  of  our  scientific  journals,  "so-called,"  are  richly 
veneered  with  materialistic  infidelity.  In  many  of 
the  works  of  art  we  have  gone  but  a  little  way  from 
the  border  of  hell.  The  so-called  divine  art  of  sculp- 
ture and  painting  has  often  ministered  to  the  foulest 
debauchery,  and  served  Satan  more  than  Christ,  and 
sin  more  than  holiness.  In  our  recreations  and 
amusements,  we  have  not  gone  beyond  the  border- 
land, and  many  of  them  are  decidedly  on  Satan's  side 
of  the  line.  Some  tell  us  that  the  promiscuous  dance 
evokes  only  pure  thoughts  and  emotions,  and  gives 
aesthetic  and  intellectual  pleasure;  that  it  is  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  beautiful  in  graceful  action,  and  the  poetry 
and  music  of  motion.  Why  is  it,  then,  that  man 
cannot  enjoy  it  with  his  own  sex,  and  without  a  woman 
clasped  in  his  arms  or  going  through  questionable 
pedal  gesticulations  in  his  presence,  and  vice  versa? 
Separate  the  sexes  in  the  performance,  and  all  the 
beauty  of  the  most  graceful  action,  and  the  finest 
poetry  and  music  of  motion,  soon  become  insipid — 
the  bead,  the  spirit  is  gone  from  the  wine — the  pleasure 
is  flatter  than  last  year's  unbottled  ale.  Why?  Be- 
cause the  enjoyment,  the  intoxication,  was  almost 
wholly  sensuous  and  sensual.  From  the  Christian  (?) 
parlor-dance  and  card-table,  the  base-ball  ground, 
the  billiard-table  and  bowling  alley,  down  to  the  race- 
course, gambling  den  and  lewd  theatre,  they  have 
all  been  prostituted  to  robbery  and  other  vices.     In 


86  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

our  social  life  we  have  not  gone  far  enough  away  to 
let  the  world  know  we  are  away  from  it  at  all.  The 
spirit  of  Christian  society,  in  the  tone  and  topics  of 
converse,  and  the  nature  of  its  pleasures  and  the  light 
of  its  joy,  can  scarcely  be  distinguished  from  the  intel- 
ligent, cultured,  unbelieving,  unconverted  circle.  We 
have  not  fixed  a  moral  distance  and  distinction  be- 
tween truth  and  falsehood,  right  and  wrong,  purity 
and  impurity,  that  will  detect  and  repel  the  untrue 
and  the  unclean;  therefore  Christian  families  and 
circles  often  nurse  and  warm  some  of  the  most  deadly 
vipers  in  their  bosoms.  Even  in  the  public  worship 
of  God  we  seem  to  keep  as  near  the  carnal  border 
as  possible.  The  time  and  length  of  the  service  must 
be  regulated  by  the  world's  horologe;  the  praise  of 
God  must  be  as  much  as  possible  suited  to  operatic 
taste;  no  matter  how  giddy  or  godless  the  quartette 
or  choir  may  be,  if  they  can  only  sing  like  sirens,  that 
will  atone  for  all;  no  matter  how  filthy  and  big  a  villain 
the  organist  is,  if  he  can  only  play  the  big  organ 
skilfully,  he  may  during  the  sermon  retire  to  the 
corner  drug  store  (?)  and  enjoy  his  grog  or  cigar. 
And  the  sermon  must,  in  its  topic,  style  and  delivery, 
not  forget  the  demands  of  the  rostrum  and  lecture 
platform,  and  perhaps  not  even  the  stage,  if  it  is  to 
be  acceptable.  Thus  the  spiritual,  soulful  worship 
of  God,  in  humble  supplication  and  joyful  adoration 
and  thanksgiving,  is  sacrificed  to  what  it  is  hoped 
will  please  and  win  the  world,  yet  does  not.  And  it 
is  much  to  be  feared  many  in  the  Church  have  not 
gone  farther  from  their  first  position  than  the  width 
of  a  church  wall,  and  even  while  there  their  heart 
"goeth  after  its  covetousness;"  and  when  they  come 
out  of  the  door  they  are,  heart  and  all,  in  the  world 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  87 

again.  Whether  "circumcision"  or  "uncircumcision," 
there  is  reason  to  fear  the  "new  creature"  (or  creation) 
is  wanting.  The  influence  of  this  border  position  tells 
with  more  force  against  the  cause  of  Christ  and  the 
power  of  the  Church  than  the  loudest  testimony  of 
a  witness  whose  voice  is  known  to  come  from  Satan's 
court.  It  is  not  the  bold,  bald  writing  of  Voltaire 
or  filthy  Paine,  or  the  brawling  atheism  and  blasphemy 
of  Bob  Ingersoll  or  Parker  Pillsbury,  that  weighs  on 
the  mind  of  to-day ;  but  it  is  the  scientific  morality  and 
infidelity  expressed  in  Christian  phraseology  and 
Scripti:re  term.s.  The  "potency  of  matter"  and  force 
of  natural  law,  and  value  of  human  virtue,  given 
authoritative  position  and  Divine  attributes,  is  the 
intellectual  mask  of  unbelief  to-day.  It  is  not  the 
poem  and  song  of  the  saloon  and  dance-house  that  is 
most  successfully  spreading  falsehood  and  filth;  it  is 
the  sacred  rhyme  and  the  songs  of  the  parlor  and 
fireside  which  cover  its  suggestion  under  a  cunning 
"double-en-tendre."  It  is  not  the  drawings,  paintings 
and  statuary  of  the  bawdy-house  and  the  bar-room 
that  is  tainting  Christian  purity,  but  that  of  a  higher 
art  and  finer  suggestion  found  in  some  Christian 
homes  and  galleries.  It  is  not  the  avowed  free-lover 
and  libertine  that  is  endangering  social  integrity  and 
home  happiness,  so  much  as  the  wealthy  man  or 
woman,  with  culture,  refinement,  polite  manners  and 
a  Christian  profession  covering  an  unsanctified  heart. 
It  is  not  the  non-professor  saying  the  grapes  of  Eshcol 
are  no  better  than  the  clusters  of  Gomorrah,  that 
decides  the  choice  of  others,  so  much  as  the  man  who 
says  he  has  been  in  the  land  of  faith  and  drunken  the 
wine  of  Lebanon,  and  by  his  acts  says  the  world's  cup 
is  just  as  sweet,  if  not  sweeter;  this  causes  others  to 


88  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

hold  back  their  hps  from  the  wine  of  Hfe.  This 
border-land  literature,  art,  song,  social  life  and  religion 
is  a  deceitful  go-between,  a  treacherous  messenger  and 
false  spy,  whose  report  is  that  it  is  better  to  go  back 
to  the  flesh-pots,  onions  and  garlic  of  Egypt,  than 
to  try  to  get  the  honey  of  the  Holy  Land. 

My  reader,  if  you  do  not  intend  to  go  "very  far 
away,"  you  had  better  not  go  at  all:  it  will  do  you 
no  good,  injure  the  church  you  connect  with,  and 
misrepresent  and  dishonor  Christ  in  His  religion. 
Some  persons  seem  to  tie  themselves  to  the  world, 
then  stretch  the  tether  as  far  as  they  can,  and  think 
they  are  going  away  from  the  world  and  coming 
nearer  heaven!  What  childish  folly!  A  man  is  no 
less  a  captive  because  his  chain  is  lengthened  or  his 
prison  bounds  enlarged.  Perhaps  it  might  be  said 
of  you,  my  reader,  Not  very  far  from  the  Kingdom; 
but  that  is  to  be  outside  the  gate,  "where  are  dogs  and 
sorcerers,"  etc.,  Rev.  xxii:  15.  Is  there  not  truth 
in  the  poet's  lines: 

"Angel  lutes  are  touched  so  near 
Hell's  confines  that  the  damned  can  hear?" 

To  be  only  almost  a  Christian  is  to  be  altogether 
lost.  Let  me  entreat  you,  my  reader,  do  not  show 
such  a  spirit  of  life;  do  not  so  live  that  Satan  and  the 
v/orld  can  say,  "Not  gone  'very  far  away.'  "  It  is 
said,  and  with  too  much  truth,  of  some  in  the  Church, 
they  are  not  very  far  from  where  natural  common 
sinners  stand;  they  don't  differ  much  from  others;  all 
the  religion  they  have  will  never  hurt  them;  we  never 
knew  that  they  had  gone  away  from  us!  Do  not,  I 
entreat,  live  on  the  border-land  of  Egypt;  for  all  the 
influence  you  will  then  have,  all  the  testimony  you  can 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  89 

give,  will  be  against  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ, 
"Stand  afar  ofif,"  as  far  as  the  east  is  distant  from  the 
west.  Depart  from  the  evil,  "Avoid  it,  pass  not  by  it, 
turn  from  it  and  pass  away" — go  as  far  as  Christ 
and  Christ-likeness.  If  you  are  going  at  all,  go  as 
far  as  Canaan-land;  cross  the  Jordan  of  death  to  sin, 
and  enter  into  the  life  that  is  nourished  upon  the  wine, 
milk  and  honey  of  the  promised  inheritance;  go  as  far 
as  right  is  from  wrong,  love  is  from  hatred,  purity  is 
from  impurity,  faith  is  from  unbelief,  hope  is  from 
despair,  and  heaven  from  hell;  go  as  far  as  the  cross 
and  the  sepulchre ;  go  on  until  you  come  to  the  mount 
of  God,  the  pavilion  of  the  Most  High,  to  an  innum- 
erable company  of  angels,  to  the  general  assembly 
and  Church  of  the  first-born,  to  the  heavenly  Jeru- 
salem of  eternal  rest,  where  there  is  "no  more  curse." 


;  vi. 

Sin  a  Blood  Hound. 

^'■Be  sure  your  sin  will Jind  you  out,'''  Numbers  xxxii:  23. 
'^Evil pursueth  sinners,'^  Proverbs  xiii:  21. 

Man's  sin,  like  a  vigilant  detective,  pursues  him 
through  every  street,  lane  and  alley,  from  cellar  to 
garret,  through  the  crowded  throng,  into  his  secret 
chamber,  lays  its  hand  upon  him  and  says  to  his 
fearful,  fleemg  soul,  "Thou  art  guilty!"  Or,  like  the 
keen-scented  hound  on  the  track  of  the  fugitive,, 
through  swamp  and  tangled  brake  he  follows  his 
footsteps;  he  may  crouch  in  the  thicket,  but  he  is 
not  safe;  he  may  seek  rest  and  sleep,  but  he  is  startled 
by  the  baying  of  the  hound  upon  his  trail;  there  is 
no  rest,  no  sleep,  no  security,  for  the  sound  of  the 
pursuer  is  ever  in  his  ears!  Or  man's  sin  is  like  a 
trusted  but  treacherous  friend,  whom  he  has  taken 
into  his  confidence,  has  given  possession  of  his  most 
hidden  thoughts  and  uncovered  purposes  and  sup- 
posed his  secrets  were  safe,  but  no  sooner  has  he 
learned  enough  to  destroy  him  than  he  betrays  and 
ruins  him! 

All  these  similitudes  are  suggested  by  the  language 
of  the  text,  "Be  sure  your  sin  will  find  you  out."  Like 
a  detective  or  hound,  it  will  pursue  and  discover  you; 
or.  like  a  treacherous  confidant,  it  will  expose  you. 
It  will  in  some  way  cause  you  to  be  found  out  either 
by  God  or  man,  or  both  by  your  Maker  and  your 
fellow-men. 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


91 


First.  Some  means  used  to  conceal  sin.     Some  ways, 
by  which  the  sinner  is  sure  to  be  found  out. 

Ever  since  Adam  and  Eve  sought  to  cover  them- 
selves with  fig  leaves  and  hide  among  the  trees  of 
the  garden,  mankind  have  labored  most  diligently  to 
conceal  their  real  character  and  condition.  They  are 
far  more  ashamed  of  being  detected  in  sin  than  they 
are  of  having  committed  sin,  far  more  anxious  ta 
have  the  good  opinion  of  their  fellow-men  than  to  be 
good  and  secure  the  favor  of  God.  Scarcely  have 
reason  and  conscience  been  suf^ciently  developed  for 
the  child  to  know  the  difference  between  good  and 
evil,  innocence  and  guilt,  than  this  disposition  is  shown^ 
and  it  clings  to  us  all  through  life.  We  think  we  can 
hide  our  sin  from  ourselves,  from  our  fellow-men, 
and  even  from  God  Himself!  This  proves  the  exist- 
ence of  conscience  and  that  man  has  naturally  some 
sense  of  the  evil  and  guilt  of  sin.  Many  expedients 
are  employed  to  hide  sin;  among  the  first  of  these  is 
lying.  Sin  employed  to  conceal  sin.  Innocence  and 
truth  are  never  employed  for  such  a  purpose — they 
would  scorn  such  service.  But  sin  begets  sin,  and 
calls  in  the  aid  of  sin  to  hide  it.  This  is  about  as  wise 
as  a  thief,  to  hide  one  stolen  coat,  putting  another 
stolen  coat  on  top  of  it!  About  as  wise  as  if  a  thief 
should  himself  employ  two  detectives  instead  of  one 
to  hunt  for  him.  As  if  a  man,  to  keep  a  secret,  should 
tell  it  to  two  treacherous  friends  instead  of  one;  for 
the  lie  and  the  sin  it  was  intended  to  hide  will  both 
find  him  out.  Sin  was  introduced  into  our  world 
through  a  lie,  and  the  first  transgression  was  sought 
to  be  covered,  or  excused,  by  an  evasion  that  bordered 
very  closely  on  falsehood.  Adam  sought  to  clear 
himself  by  charging  it  on  Eve,  and  she  by  charging  it 


92 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


Upon  the  serpent,  but  both  the  crime  and  the  evasive 
excuse  were  discovered,  yet  ever  since  that  day  other 
sins  have  been  shielded  and  perpetuated  by  the  sin 
of  falsehood.  Although  this  is  the  thinnest  and  silliest 
covering,  yet  it  is  the  one  most  frequently  resorted  to. 
When  a  child  has  done  wrong,  nothing  offers  itself 
as  a  screen  so  readily,  and  nothing  will  the  devil  more 
surely  suggest,  than  a  lie,  and  this  the  parent  should 
early  warn  the  child  against  and  by  every  means 
correct  in  it.  Only  teach  your  child  to  scorn  to  lie, 
and  you  may  cultivate  that  nobleness  of  soul  that  will 
save  it  from  many  other  vices.  Lying  is  the  first  and 
the  most  common  expedient  to  hide  sin;  there  is 
scarcely  a  sin  sought  to  be  concealed  in  our  world 
l)ut  it  is  covered  over  with  the  thin,  cold  sheet  of  a 
lie.  Under  this  head  we  include  all  prevarication, 
evasion,  deceit,  all  that  have  this  design;  they  are  all 
of  the  same  species  of  which  the  lie  is  the  genus. 

Second.  Darkness  is  another  means  by  which  men 
hope  to  hide  their  sin.  As  light  is  the  emblem  of  truth 
and  purity,  darkness  is  the  type  of  guilt  and  error. 
Purity  and  truth  love  the  day;  they  have  an  inherent 
brightness  and  beauty  that  are  lovely  and  willing  to 
be  seen;  but  darkness  is  favorable  to  deeds  of  shame 
and  guilt.  Therefore,  like  the  day-blinded  owl,  and 
prowling  beasts  of  prey,  under  the  shadow  of  night, 
the  libertine,  the  drunkard,  the  gambler,  the  thief, 
and  other  criminals  of  kindred  crime,  gather  to  their 
prey  and  crowd  their  dens  of  infamy,  as  if  the  darkness 
around  them  were  an  effectual  shield  from  the  eye 
of  God  and  man.  If  God  at  the  midnight  hour  should 
fiash  daylight  into  the  guilty  conclave  of  vile  men, 
they  would  scatter  and  skulk  away  as  a  detected  dog 
or  a  sneaking  wolf,  that  has  failed  to  reach  his  den 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  93 

before  sunrise.     Says  our  Saviour,  "Every  one  that 
doeth  evil  hateth  the  light." 

The  wicked  regard  light,  or  truth,  as  their  worst 
enemy,  and  darkness  and  falsehood  as  their  best 
friends.  It  is  very  suspicious  when  men's  business 
must  always  be  curtained  about  by  the  blackness  of 
darkness,  or  be  carried  on  behind  screens,  barred  and 
bolted  doors,  guarded  by  mysterious  grips  and  pass- 
words, and  the  Christian,  as  a  child  of  light,  is  com- 
manded to  "abstain  from  all  appearance  of  evil,"  for, 
says  our  Saviour,  "he  that  doeth  truth,"  etc.  There- 
fore by  the  apostle  He  says,  "Have  no  fellowship  with 
the  unfruitful  works  of  darkness." 

Man  forgets  or  disregards  the  eye  that  seeth  in 
the  night  as  the  day,  and  hopes  under  darkness  and 
secrecy  to  sin  with  impunity. 

Third.  Sin  often  tries  to  hide  under  a  good  name. 
It  is  no  uncommon  thing  for  wicked  men  to  call  "evil 
good  and  good  evil."  In  its  own  repulsive  form  it 
would  succeed  with  few,  for  "vice  is  a  monster  of 
such  frightful  mien  that  to  be  hated  needs  but  to  be 
seen."  Satan  would  doubtless  have  failed  with  our 
first  parents  had  he  not  come  in  the  form  of  what  was 
then  the  beautiful  and  innocent  serpent.  And  now, 
when  he  would  succeed,  he  appears  as  "an  angel  of 
light."  If  any  enterprise  or  sinful  scheme  would 
succeed,  it  must  have  a  harmless,  if  not  a  positively 
good  name.  Philosopher  and  poet  though  he  was, 
Shakespeare  was  surely  mistaken  when  he  said,  "There 
is  nothing  in  a  name."  All  that  is  good  or  ill  is 
sometimes  wrapped  up  in  the  name.  In  this  land, 
forty  years  ago,  call  a  man  a  lover  of  liberty  and 
you  canonized  him ;  call  him  an  anti-slavery  man,  and 
he  was  much  less  respected;  call  him  an  abolitionist. 


■94  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

and  thousands,  who  were  totally  ignorant  of  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word,  would  class  him  with  the  devil  him- 
self. Under  the  sacred  name  of  constitution  and 
liberty,  tyranny  and  treason  have  hidden  their  horrid 
murderous  faces.  Oh,  liberty,  such  deeds  have  been 
•done  in  thy  name  as  might  make  the  ironhearted 
despot  blush  for  shame!  Call  the  unmanned  slave  a 
bondman,  only  a  servant,  and  sweet  pity  will  dry 
her  tears;  call  slavery  a  missionary  school  for  Africa, 
and  the  middle-passage  loses  half  its  horrors,  the 
plantation  pollution  is  forgotten,  the  knout  and  whip- 
ping post  is  nothing  more  than  the  school-master 
■chastising  his  pupil  with  a  birchen  rod!  Treason 
must  always  hide  his  bloody  dagger  under  the  holy 
.guise  of  friendship.  Under  the  name  of  virgin  chas- 
tity, brothels  have  become  nunneries,  and  professed 
abstinence  has  covered  up  the  filthiest  of  debauchery. 
See  the  clutching,  eager  miser,  toiling  in  the  last 
beams  of  day,  and  keeping  sleepless  vigil  over  his 
gains;  but  he  is  not  avaricious,  O,  no,  he  is  only 
industrious  and  economical!  See  the  man  lingering 
■over  his  wine  glass,  chattering  the  most  senseless  rant; 
but  he  is  not  intemperate,  he  is  only  generous  and 
social.  The  most  unmitigated  pride  and  selfishness 
Tiave  been  masked  under  the  name  of  charity;  sweet 
charity,  thou  hast  indeed  been  made  to  cover  sins,  a 
multitude,  that  were  little  less  than  inferno's  worst. 
In  the  holy  name  of  religion,  what  deeds  of  horror 
have  been  done!  On  St.  Bartholomew's  Day  the 
streets  of  Paris  ran  red  with  gore  in  religion's  name. 
In  the  gloomy  Tower  of  London  the  head's  man  lifted 
his  ax,  and  the  fires  of  Smithfield  burned  in  religion's 
name.  As  the  forged  check  passes  at  the  bank 
because  it  has  a  good  name  on  it,  so  evil  passes  in 
the  name  of  good ;  this  is  a  very  common  shield  for  sin. 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  95 

Fourth.  Sin  is  often  liidden  under  a  fair  profession 
of  faith  and  hoHness.  Under  this  mask,  persons  seem 
to  think  they  can  hide  their  sin  from  both  God  and 
their  fellow-men.  They  sometimes  succeed  in  hiding 
it  from  themselves,  perhaps  to  their  destruction. 
Oftentimes  impenitence  and  unbelief  are  hidden  in  the 
Church.  Men  profess  their  repentance  and  join  the 
Church  and  say,  "Well,  my  neighbors  will  think  I 
am  penitent  and  hate  all  sin.  I  hope  I  do  hate  it 
some,  and  surely  God  will  think  so,  for  I  have  joined 
the  Church!"  Another  might  justly  say,  "I  know 
I  do  not  believe  many  things  the  Bible  says,  but  my 
neighbors  will  think  I  do,  and  truly  I  do  believe  some 
of  it,  enough,  I  hope,  to  save,  and  that  God  will  count 
me  among  believers,  for  I  have  joined  the  Church." 
Go  to  a  professor's  house  to  spend  the  night;  a  bless- 
ing must  be  asked  on  the  food,  and  family  worship  in 
the  evening,  perhaps  the  morning  too,  for  he  wants  to 
keep  up  the  character  of  a  professor,  he  wants  to 
believe  he  is  penitent,  believing  and  spiritual-minded; 
especially,  he  wants  his  neighbors  to  think  so.  Surely 
in  their  sober,  thoughtful  moments  such  persons  know 
they  cannot  hide  their  impenitency,  unbelief  and  car- 
nality from  God;  but  they  are  so  anxious  to  hide  the 
sin  they  know  it  is  a  shame  to  love,  that  they  wear  this 
mask.  Poor,  silly  souls!  They  ruinously  deceive 
themselves,  but  neither  God  nor  their  fellow-men. 
Don't  call  that  man  covetous,  or  avaricious.  True, 
he  does  drive  a  bargain  pinchingly  close  with  both 
rich  and  poor,  and  docks  his  servants  if  they  miss  a 
day,  even  if  it  is  to  go  to  church,  and  toils  unceasingly 
from  mom  to  night,  from  year  to  year,  and  is  amassing 
wealth;  but  he  has  consecrated  his  riches  to  the 
happiness  of  man  and  the  glory  of  God  by  a  pro- 


96  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

fession;  don't  call  him  worldly-minded,  he  only  loves 
the  world  for  Christ's  sake,  and  the  man  really  hopes 
his  profession  will  secure  him  such  a  lenient  judgment 
as  this. 

That  lady  in  rustling  silk  or  glossy  satin,  who 
brushes  heedlessly  by  the  sister  in  shilling  calico,  and 
walks  the  aisle  as  stiffly  as  if  her  spine  were  an  iron, 
bar,  and  would  never  think  of  offering  her  pew  to 
cheap  prints — do  not  call  her  proud  nor  haughty,  she 
has  crucified  the  world  by  a  profession,  at  least  she 
hopes  so,  and  hopes  you  will  think  so.  Don't  call 
that  man  ambitious;  true,  he  would  like  to  have 
"Doctor  of  Divinity"  appended  to  his  name  or  "Hon- 
orable" prefixed,  but  he  only  desires  to  climb  the 
mountain  summit  that  he  may  lift  the  cross  upon  that 
eminence,  that  greater  multitudes  may  see  it.  Oh, 
no,  he  does  not  love  fame,  this  world  to  him  is  all 
vain  show,  for  he  is  an  humble  professor,  striving  for 
an  incorruptible  crown!  Thus  men  often  try  with 
the  thin,  cold  veil  of  a  profession  to  hide  impenitency^ 
unbelief,  selfishness,  pride,  avarice  and  ambition.  But 
all  these  expedients  are  most  futile  to  hide  your  sin. 
Lying,  darkness,  secrecy,  a  good  name,  a  fair  profes- 
sion, are  all  veils  too  thin  and  full  of  holes  to  hide 
the  ugly  face  of  sin.  You  may  possibly  hide  it  from 
yourself,  and  partially  from  your  fellow-men  for  a  time,, 
but  you  have  hidden  nothing  from  God,  and  only 
for  a  time,  and  very  imperfectly,  from  your  fellow- 
men. 

Second.  Some  ways  by  which  the  sinner  is  found 
out. 

Men  are  often  exposed  by  the  countenance,  the 
expression  and  motions  of  the  body.  Sinners  would 
be  much  more  secure  if  thev  had  an  iron  or  marble 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  97 

face,  that  would  take  no  impression  from  the  soul. 
The  countenance  and  body  are  great  revealers  of  the 
heart's  secrets;  all  the  motions  of  the  hands,  the  feet, 
the  eyes,  the  tongue,  are  meaning  gestures.  Says 
Solomon,  "A  wicked  man  winketh  with  his  eyes, 
speaketh  with  his  feet  and  teacheth  with  his  fingers." 
The  wrinkles  of  the  brow,  the  curve  of  the  mouth, 
the  more  delicate  lines  of  the  face,  the  tints  and  con- 
ditions of  the  skin,  all  have  a  tell-tale  language  of 
things  within.  If  disease  is  preying  upon  the  vitals, 
you  know  it  by  the  pallor  and  languor  of  the  counte- 
nance and  feebleness  in  the  step.  If  a  man  has 
bruised  eyes,  scarred  features  and  marks  of  human 
teeth  upon  his  hands  and  face,  you  know  there  is  a 
quarrelsome,  doggish  soul  within,  as  well  as  if  you 
saw  it.  Men  think  their  sins  of  avarice,  licentiousness, 
pride,  dishonesty,  gluttony,  etc.,  are  buried  in  their 
hearts  deep  from  the  sight  of  man;  not  so:  they  are 
stamped  upon  the  face  and  form  as  clearly  and  in- 
efifaceably  as  the  expression  the  sculptor  has  chiseled 
upon  the  marble  statue.  A  well  known  author  has 
said,  "A  thief  has  a  skin  different  from  another  man; 
a  man  that  steals,  and  thinks  steal  all  the  time,  has  a 
nasty  look — his  face  has  a  moist,  clammy  appearance; 
while  the  face  of  one  who  thinks  right  and  noble 
thoughts  is  clear  and  glowing."  You  look  into  the 
face  of  a  sensualist  or  inebriate  and  see  the  work  of 
the  inner  fires  in  the  slavering  mouth,  the  flabby, 
bloated  flesh  and  the  bleared,  parchment-like  skin. 
You  read  of  the  cold,  sinister  smile  of  avarice,  the 
cunning  leer  of  deceit  and  treachery,  the  averted, 
downcast  look  of  shame  or  guilt.  You  say  of  a  man, 
'T  would  not  like  to  trust  that  man."  Why?  "I  can 
hardly  tell  you,  but  there  is  something  in  the  tones  of 


98 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


his  voice,  something-  in  his  countenance  and  manner, 
that  awakens  suspicion  whenever  I  talk  with  him; 
I  would  not  choose  him  for  a  partner  in  business  or 
suffer  him  to  run  a  large  account  on  my  books/'  You 
say  of  another  man,  "lie  has  a  straight,  firm,  decided 
step,  an  open  countenance,  a  candid  tone — I  think 
he  is  an  upright  man."  True,  by  skill  and  practice, 
the  countenance  may  be  made  to  counterfeit  the 
nobler  expressions  of  the  soul,  but  its  baseness,  by 
close  scrutiny,  may  be  detected,  for  it  is  difficult  to 
make  the  face,  the  voice,  the  manners,  all  to  lie. 
Some  persons  never  get  the  confidence  of  others,  they 
have  so  long  indulged  sensual,  dishonest,  selfish, 
ignoble  thoughts  and  feelings,  that  they  have  stamped 
themselves  upon  the  external  person,  so  that  all  can 
read  them,  though  they  know  not  how.  Think  not 
your  sin  is  hidden  in  your  heart — it  is  advertising  to 
the  world  its  place  and  business  unmistakably,  and  we 
are  unskillful  in  reading  the  writing  on  the  human 
form  only  because  every  face  bears  the  prints  of  sin 
and  every  heart  is  more  or  less  imperfect  and  impure. 

2d.  By  the  company  they  keep. 

An  old  adage,  '"Birds  of  a  feather  flock  tog-ether — 
a  man  is  known  by  the  company  he  keeps.'"  It  is 
certain  that  business  and  duty  may  sometimes  compel 
a  person  to  be  seen  in  evil  company.  It  was  a  charge 
the  enemies  of  our  Saviour  brought  against  Him,  that 
He  received  sinners,  and  ate  with  them,  that  He 
appeared  to  be  familiar  with  them;  duty  and  com- 
passion led  Him.  as  their  physician,  among  them,  and 
the  same  may  take  His  followers  to-day  among  the 
most  polluted.  But  this  charge  would  never  have 
been  made  against  Jesus  had  it  not  been  regarded  as 
a  sign  of  love  for  sin,  and  it  was  the  only  sign  they 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  99 

could  find  in  Him.  Wicked  men  sneer  at  and  ridicule 
pious  company,  but  they  are  never  ashamed  of  being 
seen  in  such  company;  they  may  dislike  their  godless 
companions  to  see  them  in  Christian  circles,  but  shame 
is  not  the  feeling  of  their  souls;  it  is  sneaking,  moral 
cowardice.  You  may  hear  an  arrested  criminal  say, 
"I  depend  much  upon  the  testimony  in  my  favor  of 

good,  old  elder  D ,  for  I  am  known  to  visit  there 

frequently!"  A  shrewd  business  man  wishes  to 
employ  a  book  keeper  or  cashier,  or  secure  a  partner; 

he  calls    a   witness,  "Do  you  know  young  G ?" 

"Yes."  "Is  he  upright,  diligent,  trusty?"  "I  can't 
5ay  I  know  anything  against  him."  "What  kind  of 
company  does  he  keep?  Does  he  attend  the  theatre, 
Trimble's  Varieties?  Does  he  visit  saloons  or  faro 
banks?"  "Not  very  often,  perhaps."  "Enough, 
enough,  I  do  not  want  him  at  all;  if  he  does  not  love 
drinking,  gambling,  profanity,  etc.,  etc.,  why  go  in 
such  company?"  Young  man,  young  woman,  you 
may  not  be  known  to  be  immoral,  infidel  or  vicious, 
but  your  heart  is  revealing  itself  by  the  company  you 
keep,  on  the  street,  in  the  social  or  political  circle, 
and  in  vain  you  may  deny  the  charge,  your  sin  is 
finding  you  out.  "He  that  walketh  with  wise  men 
shall  be  wise,  but  the  companion  of  fools  shall  fall." 

3d.  By  the  unfaithfulness  of  accomplices,  sin  finds 
out  the  sinner.  Sin,  by  its  corrupting  influence  upon 
the  heart,  has  destroyed  absolute  confidence  among 
men.  Almost  every  one  under  certain  circumstances 
will  doubt  his  neighbor;  suspicion  is  aroused  and  kept 
vigilant  by  frequent  treachery  reported,  and  because 
every  man  knows  in  his  own  soul  that  he  is  not  a  safe 
confidant  under  all  circumstances.  Is  it  any  wonder 
this  is  so?     He  who  will  be  unfaithful  to  the  trust 


100  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

his  Maker  has  given  him,  and  transgress  the  law  of 
the  great  God,  is  it  any  wonder  that  when  profit, 
revenge  or  preferment  may  be  the  reward,  we  should 
doubt  his  fidehty  to  his  fellow-men?  If  your  course 
is  honorable  and  upright,  such  as  an  enlightened  con- 
science and  the  law  of  God  would  sanction,  if  your 
actions  are  noble  and  true,  such  as  will  neither  dis- 
honor God,  degrade  yourself  nor  injure  your  fellow- 
men,  you  need  not  blush  when  the  sun  rises,  nor  fear 
when  it  sets,  neither  need  you  always  go  alone  in  your 
work  or  pleasures.  But  if  men  wish  to  be  safe  and 
hide  their  guilt,  they  should  have  no  confederates  in 
wickedness,  they  will  and  ought  to  doubt  every  wit- 
ness, because  many  reasons  might  induce  them  to- 
open  their  mouths  concerning  it  sometimes.  Gain, 
revenge  and  preferment,  are  strong  motives  on  the 
depraved  heart,  and  a  natural  disposition  to  tattle 
makes  all  mankind  (and  womankind,  too,  I  suppose) 
unsafe.  Suppose  you  wish  to  step  into  the  bar  and 
take  a  dram — you  want  to  hide  the  fact,  too?  Yes, 
I  know  you  do,  for  you  know  it  is  no  advantage  to 
yourself  or  the  community,  you  know  it  is  a  mean, 
degrading,  dangerous  habit,  and  that  you  are  en- 
couraging a  traffic  that  is  the  curse  of  our  land  and 
destroying  its  thousands.  You  want  to  hide  your 
drinking  therefore?  Well,  do  not  take  any  one  with 
you  then,  and  do  not  let  the  barkeeper  know  it  either, 
for  barkeepers  love  to  boast  sometimes  what  respect- 
able and  pious  men  patronize  them — the  safest  way  is 
just  to  steal  it,  and  that  is  very  hazardous;  it  will 
assuredly  be  found  out  some  day.  You  wish  to  take 
a  game  at  cards,  to  gamble  a  little?  Take  the  pack 
and  slip  o^  to  some  old,  deserted  house  or  barn,  and 
play  by  yourself,  if  you  do  not  wish  to  be  found  out. 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  loi 

If  you  wish  to  follow  sinful,  shameful  practices,  pursue 
them  alone;  there  are  several  advantages  in  this,  then 
you  need  not  be  afraid  of  every  one  you  meet,  lest 
the  deed  has  been  told,  and  you  will  not  corrupt  others 
and  drag  them  down  to  reproach  you  in  hell.  A 
sinful  secret  is  safe  with  no  one,  for  a  Christian  should 
not  promise  to  keep  it,  and  sinful  companions  are  not 
to  be  trusted. 

4th.  Sin  often  finds  persons  out  by  its  fruits.  It  is 
a  very  fruitful  thing — never  was  an  evil  tree  planted 
that  was  barren;  great  the  quantity  and  great  the 
variety  of  its  fruit — but  such  its  peculiar  nature  and 
flavor  that  it  is  always  known  to  be  the  fruit  of  sin. 
It  is  sometimes  very  beautiful  to  the  eye,  but,  like 
Dead  Sea  apples,  turns  to  ashes  on  the  lips.  It  is  a 
very  bitter  fruit.  Jeremiah  said  to  Jerusalem,  "This 
is  thy  wickedness,  for  it  is  bitter."  Like  the  little 
book  in  the  angel's  hand,  it  may  be  sweet  in  the 
mouth,  but  is  bitter  in  the  soul.  When  sinners  are 
made  to  eat  the  fruit  of  their  own  doings,  they  often 
find  their  meat  is  gall.  Ask  the  convicted  sinner, 
whose  soul  is  harrowed  with  a  sense  of  guilt,  if  it  is 
not  an  evil  and  bitter  thing  to  sin  against  God?  Sin 
will  bear  its  fruit  of  sorrow,  shame  and  suflfering,  and 
by  this  it  is  often  found  out.  Deep  darkness  may  have 
curtained  the  deed,  but  its  fruit  will  grow  up  in  the 
light  of  the  sun.  The  secret  tippler,  the  libertine, 
gambler  and  assassin,  often  find  the  fruit  of  their 
doings  hanging  in  clusters,  so  that  all  can  see  it.  You 
may  bury  sin,  like  the  acorn,  in  the  earth,  but  it  will 
sprout,  burst  the  soil  and  shoot  up  into  the  light  of 
day.  We  long  tried  to  hide  our  great  national  sin. 
We  laid  over  it  the  clean  linen  of  religion,  we  wrapped 
it  up  in  the  starry  fiag  of  freedom,  we  drowned  the 


102  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

cry  of  wrong  with  the  louder  shouts  of  Hberty.     The 
Church  tried  to  do  the  work  of  her  Head  and  King 
and  bring  good  out  of  evil.     Our  free  Church  and  free 
press  and  free  schools  and  open  Bibles  and  our  liberal 
laws  and  all  our  free  institutions  were  the  source  of 
so  much  good  that  we  seemed  to  think  the  evil  was 
surely  hidden.     We  pointed  to  the  Church  in  the  land^ 
growing  in  numbers  and  wealth,  increasing  mission- 
aries all  over  the  earth  and  multiplying  her  agencies 
and  societies  for  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  and  blessed 
with  great  revivals  at  intervals,  and  we  said,  "Surely 
this  is  not  a  nation  laden  with  iniquity."     We  pointed 
to  our  prosperity  in  arts,  commerce  and  manufactories, 
unparalleled  growth  in  numbers,  intelligence,  great- 
ness, wealth  and  power,  and  we  asked  proudly,  "Is 
this  the  fruit  of  sin?"     But  we  were  made  to  feed  on 
the  apples  of  Sodom  and  gather  the  grapes  of  Gomor- 
rah,  and   they  were  a  bitter  cluster.     Treason   and 
rebellion,  mourning,    desolation    and    death,  wealth 
decreasing  more  rapidly  than  it  increased,  commerce 
and  manufactories  paralyzed,  the  churches  mangled 
and    defiled,  bloody    fields,  desolate    homes,  aching 
hearts,  tearful  eyes  weeping  for  loved  ones  that  can 
never  return — are  some  of  the  bitter  fruits  that  found 
out  our  sin.    And  God  grant  we  may  not  now  be  found 
planting  poppies  and  nightshade  in  our  Mormon  and 
Indian  policy,  for  we  know  "the  curse  causeless  will 
not  come." 

5th.  Lastly,  God  often  unmasks  and  exposes  sin 
by  His  Word,  Spirit  and  providence.  You  may  teach 
the  face,  voice  and  all  motions  of  the  body  to  belie 
the  heart,  as  the  harlot  may  paint  and  adorn  her 
polluted  form,  or  as  the  ruddy  hue  of  health  may  tinge 
the  cheek,   while   consumption  is   devouring  within; 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  103 

you  may  keep  the  company  of  the  good  while  you 
love  the  evil  and  your  fellow-men  never  discover  your 
wickedness;  but  God  can  and  often  does  unveil  guilt 
to  the  guilty  themselves  and  to  the  world  in  mar- 
vellous ways.  In  mercy,  God  often,  by  His  Word  and 
Spirit,  uncovers  the  guilty  heart  to  the  sinner's  own 
inner  sight — then  truly  sin  finds  out  the  sinner!  Be- 
fore he  thought  there  was  some  good  in  him,  now  he 
sees  he  is  wholly  vile!  Before  he  thought  his  demerit 
not  great,  now  he  sees  he  deserves  only  utmost  wrath. 
Before  he  felt  himself  in  little  danger,  now  he  sees 
himself  helpless  and  hopeless  in  the  hands  of  a  just 
God,  and  blessed  are  they  whose  sins  are  thus  in  their 
own  sight  unveiled  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  for  they  flee 
to  the  only  safe  hiding  place.  God  often,  by  the 
strange  unfoldings  of  His  providence,  brings  to  light 
sin  that  had  entrenched  itself  in  the  strongest  security. 
Tiie  sons  of  Jacob  supposed  their  crime  against  their 
brother  secure  from  detection.  Reuben,  who  would 
have  delivered  him  out  of  the  pit,  knew  not  he  was 
sold  into  Egypt;  their  old  father  had  been  eflfectually 
deceived  by  his  torn,  bloody  coat;  Joseph  is  a  slave  to 
the  bloody  Ishmaelites,  and  can  live  but  a  few  years, 
and  they  will  certainly  hear  nothing  more  of  the 
ambitious  dreamer.  Years  pass  away,  they  are  driven 
into  Egypt  for  food ;  there  God  brings  them  into  such 
distress  that  they  are  forced  to  confess,  "We  were 
verily  guilty  concerning  our  brother."  Joseph  ap- 
pears in  honor  there,  Jacob  is  brought  down,  the  whole 
crime  is  unveiled,  and  they  are  indeed  made  to  bow 
before  the  dreamer. 

David  was  guilty  of  a  most  heinous  crime  against 
a  brave  and  faithful  officer.  He  sought  first  to  hide 
it  by  cunning;  that  failed;  then  he  used  the  sword 


104  ^^^  GOLDEN  POT. 

of  murder  to  secure  himself  against  discovery,  but 
the  grave  could  not  hide  the  crime;  God  dragged  it 
to  Hght  and  punished  it  in  Absalom's  rebellion.  Dr. 
Donne,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  was  one  day  walking  in 
the  cemetery.  He  came  to  where  the  old  sexton  was 
digging  a  grave;  the  sexton  had  struck  into  the  side 
of  an  old  grave  and  threw  up  a  skull;  the  doctor 
picked  it  up  and  found  a  headless  nail  sticking  in  the 
temple.  Unnoticed  by  the  sexton,  he  drew  it  ort 
and  wrapped  it  in  his  handkerchief.  He  asked  the 
grave  digger  if  he  knew  whose  skull  that  was?  He 
said  he  did ;  that  it  was  the  skull  of  a  man  who  kept  a 
brandy  shop  on  a  certain  street,  and  after  drinking 
a  quart  of  ardent  spirits  one  night,  was  found  dead 
in  his  bed  next  morning.  "Had  he  a  wife?"  asked 
the  doctor.  "Yes."  "What  kind  of  a  woman  is  she?" 
"O,  a  good  enough  woman,  I  guess;  but  her  neighbors 
talk  about  her  because  she  married  the  next  day  after 
her  husband  was  buried."  The  doctor  visited  the 
woman,  introduced  the  subject  of  her  husband's  death; 
the  woman,  supposing  herself  secure  and  suspecting 
nothing,  talked  freely  on  the  subject  and  told  him 
the  manner  and  suddenness  of  her  husband's  death 
by  drinking.  .As  she  told  this,  the  doctor  unwrapped 
the  nail  from  his  handkerchief,  and  with  a  firm,  stern 
voice  said,  "Woman,  do  you  know  this  nail?  I  took 
it  from  your  husband's  temple!"  Conscience  stricken 
at  the  unexpected  question,  she  confessed  that  she 
had  murdered  her  husband! 

Sin  will  be  uncovered;  it  cannot  be  buried;  God  is 
against  it.  You  may  deny  its  possession  of  your 
heart,  yet  it  will  canker  there  and  compel  an  acknowl- 
edgment sooner  or  later.  All  things  in  heaven  and 
earth,  animate  and  inanimate,  conspire  against  the 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  105 

hiding  of  sin.  Go  where  you  will,  guilt  will  cleave 
to  you  like  a  Nemesis;  your  heart,  tortured  by  the 
burning  plague  within,  cannot  keep  its  own  secret;  in 
the  language  of  Webster,  "It  is  false  to  itself,"  or, 
rather,  it  feels  an  irresistible  impulse  to  be  true  to 
itself.  It  labors  under  its  guilty  possession  and  knows 
not  what  to  do  with  it.  The  human  heart  was  never 
made  for  the  residence  of  such  an  inhabitant.  It 
finds  itself  preyed  on  by  a  torment  which  it  does  not 
acknowledge  to  God  or  man.  A  vulture  is  devouring 
it  and  it  can  ask  for  no  sympathy  nor  assistance  from 
earth  or  heaven.  The  secret  possessed  soon  comes 
to  possess  him,  and  like  the  evil  spirit,  overcomes  him 
and  leads  him  whithersoever  it  will.  He  feels  it 
beating  at  his  heart,  rising  to  his  throat  and  demanding 
disclosure;  the  fatal  secret  struggles  violently  to  burst 
forth.  It  must  be  confessed,  it  will  be  confessed — 
there  is  no  refuge  from  confessing  but  suicide,  and 
"suicide  is  confession."  Remember,  Solomon  says, 
"He  that  covereth  his  sins  shall  not  prosper,  but  whoso 
confesseth  and  forsaketh  them  shall  have  mercy," 
Proverbs  xxviii:  13.  When  sin  finds  out  sinners,  they 
want  to  be  hidden  from  the  face  of  the  Judge,  Rev. 
vi:  16. 


VIL 

Shall  the  Bible  be  Expelled  from  the  School 

House? 

"  Why,  -luhat  evil  hath  He  done?''  Matthew  xxvii:  23. 

If  the  Bible  has  done  or  is  doing  any  evil  in  the 
schools,  Jesus  Christ  must  bear  the  blame;  it  is  His 
doing,  for  the  Book  is  His,  He  is  the  author  of  it, 
and  has  endorsed  and  approved  its  contents  from 
Genesis  to  Revelation.  Therefore  you  see  the  pro- 
priety of  using  this  text  for  my  inquiry,  for  the  treat- 
ment the  Book  has  received  implies  that  it  has  and 
will  be  harmful  in  the  school  house,  and  should  be 
expelled;  then  Jesus  Christ  is  the  offender,  and  when 
this  expulsion  is  demanded  we  have  a  right  to  ask, 
Why,  what  evil  hath  He  done?  Twenty-five  years 
ago  the  city  of  Chicago  expelled  it  from  her  schools, 
and  the  Legislature  of  Illinois  was  presented  a  bill 
reading  thus: 

"That  it  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  Board  of  Educa- 
tion, School  Board,  or  Boatd  of  Directors,  to  cause  or 
allow  to  be  read  the  Bible  or  any  version  thereof." 

The  following  was  the  Cincinnati  action: 

^'Resolved,  That  the  reading  of  the  Bible,  as  well  as 
singing  of  religious  songs  in  the  schools,  should  no 
longer  be  tolerated;  it  is  the  duty  to  reject  everything 
repulsive  to  the  youthful  mind,  of  which  the  reading 
of  the  Bible  stands  in  the  front  rank." 

And  recently  a  dogberry  judge  on  the  Supreme 
Bench  of  Wisconsin  declares  the  Bible  cannot  be 
used  in  the  schools  because  it  is  a  sectarian  bookt 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  107" 

The  School  Journal  in  a  recent  issue  says:  "The  behef 
that  the  teaching  of  morahty  is  not  essential  seems 
to  be  quite  general  in  the  State  of  New  York,  for 
of  the  sixty-one  School  Commissioners  in  this  State, 
thirty-six  report  that  no  instruction  in  morality  is 
required  in  schools  under  their  care."  So  it  seems 
that  the  Bible  and  everything  that  savors  of  religion 
must  be  expelled  from  the  school  house!  But  what 
songs  may  be  sung  there?  And  how  are  you  to 
debar  all  religion  and  morality?  Hon.  Lyman  Trum- 
bull says:  Suppose  they  should  sing  the  twenty-third 
Psalm.  We  know  some  consciences  would  be 
offended  with  that.  Suppose  they  sung  the  songs  of 
Bernard  Fenelon,  or  Swedenborg,  some  consciences 
would  be  offended  at  this  religion.  Suppose  they  sing 
the  songs  of  John  Wesley,  McCheyne,  and  Holmes; 
some  consciences  would  be  offended  with  that  religion! 
Suppose  they  sing  the  ballads  of  Byron,  Moore  and 
Theodore  Tilton;  this  is  the  devil's  religion,  and  some 
consciences  might  even  be  offended  with  this.  Who 
is  to  judge  what  songs  are  appropriate?  Unless  your 
board  expurgated  every  text-book  of  any  religious 
word,  thought  or  feeling,  and  excluded  Christian 
teachers  from  every  school  room,  they  cannot  eft'ectu- 
ally  enough  exclude  religion  to  please  the  irreligious 
consciences  of  some  of  their  tax-payers.  What  could 
you  then  teach?  Not  reading;  for  the  child  might 
come  across  the  truth,  "man  is  immortal,"  or  "Jesus 
Christ  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,"  and  this 
would  be  dangerous  reading.  Not  grammar;  for  the 
pupil  might  have  to  parse  the  sentence,  "sin  is  the 
transgression  of  the  law,"  and,  like  an  inquisitive 
Yankee  boy,  might  ask,  "What  law  is  this?"  Then 
the  teacher  would  be  in  trouble.     Not  spelling  and 


I08  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

defining;  unless  you  leave  out  all  such  words  as  soul, 
sin,  guilt,  salvation,  Christ  Jesus,  right,  wrong,  hell, 
heaven,  holiness,  etc.,  for  without  the  Bible  a  teacher 
cannot  define  these.  Not  writing;  unless  they  are 
very  careful  what  copies  or  sentiments  they  write;  and 
a  good  many  problems  in  arithmetic  might  be  dan- 
gerous, and  it  would  hardly  be  safe  to  go  beyond 
teaching  gymnastics,  the  value  of  a  cipher  on  the  left 
side  of  the  figure,  or  the  place  of  zero  on  the  ther- 
mometer. Then  the  child  would  be  in  danger  of 
asking  who  made  it  so  cold.  But  some  say  the  action 
is  no  offense  to  the  Word  of  God,  and  casts  no 
reproach  or  discredit  on  the  Bible.  The  action  has 
been  called  "bouncing"  the  Bible,  "kicking  it  out  of 
school,"  etc.  But  you  may  say  this  is  only  the  elegant 
diction  of  the  Chicago  Times.  Well,  I  am  no  admirer 
of  either  the  rhetoric,  theology,  morality,  or  politics 
of  the  Times,  but  even  the  devil  has  been  known  to 
tell  the  truth,  and  even  the  Times  has  been  known 
to  use  the  right  word  in  the  right  place,  and  to  call 
things  by  their  correct  names.  Suppose  the  board 
should  forbid  Webster's  dictionary  to  be  used  in  the 
school,  would  not  the  inference  be  justly  made  that 
it  is  not  fit  to  be  a  standard  for  spelling  and  pronounc- 
ing the  English  language?  Suppose  Cutter's 
Anatomy  and  Hygiene,  or  any  other  book  that  had 
teen  for  many  years  accepted  in  the  sch'.^ol  was  thrust 
out — would  it  not  be  a  reflection  and  discredit?  Even 
the  school  children  so  regarded  the  act.  The  very 
day  the  reading  and  prayer  was  abandoned  in  Chicago 
I  had  to  meet  the  question  from  my  own  and  other 
children,  "Is  the  Bible  not  a  good  book?  Why  then 
quit  reading  it  in  school?"'  The  action  says  to  every 
intelligent  mind  of  the  world:  The  Bible  is  not  suitable 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  109 

for  American  schools,  it  is  not  a  correct  moral 
standard,  its  teachings  cannot  decide  any  of  the  great 
moral  questions  that  concern  the  welfare  and  life  of 
this  mighty  nation.  Candid  reason  will  admit  it  was 
offensively  thrust  out. 

Having  noticed  \vhat  I  believe  to  be  the  animus 
and  outreach  of  this  action  and  the  offensive  manner 
of  it,  I  now  propose  to  discuss  the  wisdom  and  right- 
fulness of  the  action  under  this  question:  Shall  the 
Bible  be  expelled  from  th  common  schools?  I  wish 
the  question  clearly  stated  and  understood.  It  is  not. 
Shall  the  Bible  be  fixed  in  the  schools  by  statute;  not 
whether  it  shall  be  there  expounded  and  its  teachings 
enforced;  no  one,  unless  the  Roman  Catholic,  asks 
this.  The  question  simply  is,  Shall  the  Bible  be 
expelled  from  the  place  it  has  occupied  for  hundreds 
of  years?  Those  in  the  affirmative  say  it  should,  (i) 
because  its  presence  and  reading  there  is  offensive 
and  oppressive  to  certain  individual  consciences; 
(2)  because  our  State  has  no  religion,  and  cannot  favor 
or  encourage  any  religious  ideas;  (3)  because  its 
morality  is  not  necessary  to  civil  education — that 
education  which  fits  a  subject  of  the  State  for  his 
duties  as  a  citizen;  (4)  because  it  is  an  unjust  offense 
to  certain  consciences  in  a  school  supported  by 
universal  taxation.  To  state  a  few  points  of  agree- 
ment among  the  parties  to  this  controversy  before 
entering  on  the  discussion  may  avoid  confusion  in 
the  argument.  At  least  all  Protestants  on  either  side 
of  this  controversy,  I  believe,  agree: 

1.  That  it  does  not  belong  to  the  State  to  teach 
dogmatic  catechetical  doctrinal  religion,  or  give  an 
exposition  of  the  Bible. 

2.  That  the  State  may  not  employ  its  power  to  teach 


J 10  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

or  promote  religion  or  even  morality  as  an  end.  The 
State  may,  and  must  of  necessity,  employ  religion  and 
morality  as  a  means  to  secure  its  own  proper  end  and 
design,  which  is  to  conserv'e  justice  and  right  between 
man  and  man,  and  to  promote  the  highest  civilization, 
freedom,  civil  prosperity  and  happiness  of  mankind. 

3.  We  all  agree  that  it  is  not  the  school  teacher's 
province  to  expound  the  Bible  or  teach  formulated 
theology. 

4.  That  the  State  has  no  right  to  compel  any  citizen 
to  renounce  his  or  her  conscientious  convictions,  or 
to  act  contrary  to  them. 

But  my  conscience  has  no  right  to  compel  or 
influence  the  State  in  any  action.  If  my  convictions 
of  conscience  stand  in  the  way  of  the  State,  effecting 
her  rightful  and  highest  end,  she  inust  go  right  on, 
regardless  of  my  conscience;  I  must  simply  endure 
whatever  suffering  may  ensue  from  my  position,  until 
the  State  change  her  action,  or  my  convictions  change. 
As  between  me  and  my  God,  I  must  maintain  my 
convictions  of  right  and  truth  though  I  go  down 
under  them.  Galileo  was  right  when  he  persisted 
in  saying,  "The  w^orld  does  move,"  though  the  Inquisi- 
tion was  unrelenting,  and  the  Romish  Church  did  not 
move.  The  State  must  seek  her  right  ends,  whatever 
personal  convictions  may  be  crossed  or  violated.  The 
attempt  to  regulate  the  action  of  the  State  by  personal 
convictions  would  be  to  load  her  with  a  thousand 
fetters,  and  arrest  her  advance  at  every  step.  So  far 
as  individual  consciences  are  concerned  in  this  matter 
of  the  schools,  if  the  recognitoin  of  the  Bible  as  the 
standard  of  morality,  and  its  reading  in  the  schools, 
is  useful  and  needful  to  the  State  in  promoting  her 
rightful  and  highest  end,  she  has  a  right  to  maintain 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  Ill 

it  in  her  system  of  national  education  if  every  Roman, 
pagan,  infidel  atheistic  and  mongrel  conscience  in 
the  land  was  oppressed  and  ofTended.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  Bible  morality  is  not  useful  or  is  hurtful  to  the 
State  in  promoting  justice,  national  purity,  civilization, 
prosperity,  and  happiness,  then  she  has  a  right  to 
remove  the  book,  if  the  action  offends  and  oppresses 
every  other  conscience  in  the  land.  With  the  indi- 
vidual, religion,  morality  and  holiness  must  be  an 
end ;  with  the  State,  simply  a  means  to  an  end.  Then 
it  is  our  right  and  duty  to  examine  the  influence  of 
the  Bible  in  our  national  schools,  and  this  I  shall 
attempt  under  three  questions. 

First.  What  evil  has  it  done? 

Second.  What  good  will  its  expulsion  do? 

Third.  Will  the  expulsion  do  harm? 

When  the  Divine  Author  of  this  book  was  arraigned 
before  Pilate,  and  his  condemnation  demanded,  even 
a  pagan  governor  thought  it  but  just  that  it  should 
be  known  why.  "What  evil  hath  He  done?"  Now, 
His  Word  is  arraigned,  put  on  trial,  and  put  under 
the  ban  of  condemnation,  and  it  is  but  just  to  demand, 
why?  What  evil  hath  it  done?  It  has  been  in 
schools  ever  since  the  first  was  organized  m  the  new 
world.  I  believe  the  first  that  might  be  called  a  free 
school  was  organized  in  Boston  in  1635.  There  the 
Bible  was  read  twice  a  day  by  the  students;  and  for 
two  hundred  years  and  more  there  has  scarcely  been  a 
school  in  the  land  without  it.  From  the  very  begin- 
ning of  State  education — from  the  very  initiation  of 
the  common  school  system  until  the  present  day,  this 
wonderful  book  has  ben  in  every  school  house,  with 
very  few  exceptions,  and  now  it  is  proposed  to  banish 
it.     Before  doing  so,  we  demand,  why?     What  evil 


112  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

has  it  done?  As  men,  as  free  men,  as  just  men,  Chris- 
tians, you  cannot  do  this  unless  you  can  show  that  it 
does  no  good,  or  does  evil  and  is  therefore  unfit  to 
be  used.  In  all  this  time  have  you  found  it  was 
corrupting  your  youth?  Has  it  disqualified  them  for 
being  good  fathers,  mothers,  friends  and  citizens? 
Has  it  made  them  less  pure,  honest,  truthful,  brave  and 
patriotic?  You  dare  not  affirm  this,  for  you  know  it 
inculcates  and  enforces  with  the  highest  authority 
all  these  duties;  and  that  those  who  study  it  most,  love 
it  most,  and  practice  its  precepts,  excel  in  all  these 
virtues.  Has  it  made  your  citizens  less  tolerant, 
benevolent,  and  law-abiding?  The  very  reverse  of 
this  is  true.  From  the  teachings  of  this  book  your 
citizens  have  received  the  spirit  of  wise,  generous 
toleration,  large  benevolence,  and  subjection  to  the 
powers  that  be,  as  "the  ministers  of  God,  a  terror  to 
evil-doers,  and  a  praise  to  them  that  do  well."  "My 
Word  is  a  hammer,"  saith  the  Lord,  and  in  spite  of  all 
the  perversions  of  ignorant  or  mistaken  expositors,  in. 
spite  of  all  the  political  and  moneyed  corruption  in 
the  pulpits  and  pews,  the  hammer  of  this  book  has 
broken  down  the  strongholds  of  tyranny,  and  struck 
off  the  chains  of  slavery;  and  upon  its  truths  have 
been  laid  the  corner-stones  and  built  up  the  grand 
temple  of  universal  liberty,  "throughout  all  the  land 
and  for  all  the  inhabitants  thereof."  What  evil  has  it 
done?  Has  its  use  retarded  the  growth  of  true 
science,  philosophy,  literature,  polite  learning,  and 
useful  knowledge  of  any  kind?  I  point  you  to  the 
best  institutions  of  learning  in  the  land,  to  their 
founders,  supporters  and  instructors,  and  demand  an 
answer.  Are  they  not  the  believers  in,  and  lovers  of  this 
book?     I  point  you  to  the  most  profound  scientists 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  113 

and  philosophers  of  the  land,  the  most  literary  and 
refined,  and  they,  too,  with  very  few  exceptions,  are 
the  believers  in  and  lovers  of  this  book.  Does  it 
restrain  the  growth  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion 
and  power  of  the  Pope  over  the  conscience  in  this 
land?  The  Romish  journals,  writers  and  priests  say 
yes,  therefore  they  demand  its  exclusion.  This  admits 
that  the  Bible  is  against  their  teachings  and  authority; 
that  they  cannot  endure  its  rays  of  light,  its  lessons- 
of  freedom;  that  theirs  is  a  system  of  darkness,  whicb 
cannot  tolerate  liberty  of  thought  and  conscience. 
Do  Americans,  does  this  government,  desire  to  favor,, 
to  foster,  to  strengthen  such  a  system?  A  Roman- 
Catholic  permitted  it  to  be  translated  and  circulated. 
A  Roman  Catholic  bishop  drafted  the  license  to  read 
it,  until  a  better  translation  could  be  provided,  which 
he  hoped  would  not  be  until  doomsday.  Bishop 
Geddes,  himself  a  Catholic  and  translator  of  the 
Scriptures,  says,  'Tt  is  of  all  versions  the  most  excel- 
lent for  accuracy,  fidelity  and  the  strictest  letter  of 
the  text."  The  learned  Selden,  literary  dictator,  says, 
"It  is  the  best  version  in  the  world."  But  the 
Catholics  will  not  have  even  their  Douay  Bible  to  be 
in  the  hands  of  the  people,  which  shows  that  it  is 
not  a  question  of  versions  at  all,  but  of  the  Bible 
itself  as  being  against  them.  But  hear  what  the 
Bishop  of  Bologna  writes  to  Pope  Paul  III.  Speaking 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  he  says:  "She  is  persuaded 
that  this  is  the  book  which,  above  all  others,  raises 
such  storms  and  tempests.  And  truly,  if  any  one  read 
it  and  observe  the  customs  and  practices  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  he  will  see  that  there  is  no  agree- 
ment between  them,  and  that  the  doctrine  which  she 
preaches     is     altogether    different,    and    sometimes 


114 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


contrary  to  that  contained  in  the  Bible."  Then  let 
our  Catholic  citizens  come  out  and  candidly,  like  this 
bishop,  say:  We  want  the  Bible  out  of  the  public 
schools  because  it  is  preventing  the  spread  of  Roman- 
ism. And  if  Americans  wish  to  tear  down  the  one 
impregnable  bulwark  against  the  encroachments  of 
her  darkness  and  despotism,  let  them  expel  this  book 
from  their  system  of  education.  If  they  prefer  Rome's 
superstitions  and  dungeons  to  the  light  of  Christian 
truth  and  liberty,  let  them  condemn  the  Bible  as 
guilty  of  a  crime  in  opposing  the  Church  of  Rome.  In 
this  controversy  the  children  of  the  Pope  have  dam- 
aged their  cause  by  thus  showing  that  the  Bible, 
opened  in  the  schools,  is  such  a  deadly  weapon 
against  them. 

But  another  evil  it  does  in  the  schools  is  to  offend 
and  oppress  the  consciences  of  infidels,  atheists,  and 
rationalists.  At  this  I  am  both  surprised  and  re- 
joiced; rejoiced,  because,  if  true,  it  proves  their  con- 
sciences are  still  alive;  surprised,  because,  hearing 
such  talk  as  may  be  heard  among  them  and  seeing 
their  writings,  I  had  supposed  they  were  never 
troubled  about  this  old  volume  of  superstition,  this 
invention  of  ancient  priests,  cunning  imposters,  this 
talisman  of  old  women  and  weak  minds.  I  thought 
they  were  too  strong  to  be  afifected  by  the  weight  of 
anything  it  contained;  that  its  commands  could  never 
give  them  anxiety,  nor  its  threatenings  give  them  any 
distress,  nor  its  doctrines  give  them  any  concern.  I 
thought  they  were  happily  delivered  from  all  the 
qualms  and  terrors  and  oppressions  of  conscience, 
which  this  book  has  sometimes  laid  upon  the  souls 
of  ordinary  mortals.  But,  alas!  they  cannot  escape 
from    this    strange  book,  any    more    than    common 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  115 

people.  Here  they  are  offended  by  it,  sorely  op- 
pressed, crying  out  under  their  oppressions,  and  pray- 
ing the  State  to  give  them  deliverance.  You  all 
remember  the  man  who  found  he  was  burning,  and 
called  the  servant  to  remove  the  grate.  The  servant 
suggested  that  he  change  his  place  of  sitting.  O  yes, 
he  hadn't  thought  of  that.  So  we  say  to  these 
unbelieving  gentlemen,  if  you  would  not  be  crushed 
by  this  stone,  get  out  from  beneath  it,  then  it  will 
not  hurt  you.  But  is  the  State  to  be  guided  by  their 
consciences  in  what  is  needful  for  her  good?  But 
suppose  the  State  admit  that  this  is  a  crime  in  the 
book,  and  remove  it  from  the  schools,  then  have 
we  any  assurance  they  will  not  turn  to  the  State  and 
say,  "Now  the  book  is  offensive  and  oppressive  to 
us  in  the  courts,  and  in  the  halls  of  legislation,  and 
in  the  almshouses,  and  in  the  schools  of  reform,  and 
in  prisons,  and  in  daily  business,  and  in  our  asylums 
for  deaf,  dumb  and  blind;  in  fact,  the  old  book  is 
offensive  and  oppressive  anywhere  in  the  United 
States,  and  we  demand  its  exile.  This  is  a  free 
country,  and  we  will  not  be  offended  and  oppressed 
"by  anything  in  it." 

But  this  question  might  arise  here:  Is  the  individual 
conscience  to  guide  the  State  in  her  duty?  If  these 
gentlemen  whose  great  business  is  not  to  believe, 
declare  to  the  State  they  do  believe  in  their  consciences 
that  to  expel  the  Bible  would  best  conserve  the 
demands  of  justice  and  most  promote  civilization  and 
freedom,  must  the  State  therefore  expel  it?  Then, 
what  must  become  of  all  the  other  consciences  in  the 
land?  If  the  seven  million  Catholic  consciences  are  to 
be  respected,  are  the  twenty  millions  of  Protestant  con- 
sciences to  be  disrespected?     Are  the  few  millions  of 


Il6  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

pagan  and  infidel  consciences  to  be  tenderly  respected, 
and  the  thirty  millions  of  believers'  consciences  to  be 
disregarded?  What  an  absurd  idea  that  the  State  is  to 
be  guided  in  her  duty  by  any  such  rule!  'this  would 
be  to  fetter  the  freedom  of  the  State  with  ten  thousand 
chains,  and  turn  personal  liberty  into  licentiousness. 
If  the  Christian  truth  concerning  God  and  man  will 
best  subserve  the  ends  of  the  State,  then  she  is  bound 
to  favor  and  adopt  this,  not  because  it  is  the  religion 
of  the  Christian,  but  because  it  best  secures  civil  self- 
government,  justice,  freedom,  and  civilization  to  man, 
which  is  the  design  of  the  State.  Then,  are  we  going 
to  declare  that  it  is  a  crime  in  the  Bible  to  oppress 
and  offend  the  consciences  of  infidels  and  atheists, 
and  for  this  turn  it  out  of  school?  Then  you  may 
oppress  and  offend  more  consciences  than  you  free. 

But  it  is  said  the  Jew  is  also  offended  by  this  book 
in  the  schools.  Then  I  ask  my  Hebrew  fellow- 
countrymen  to  go  back  into  those  lands  where  govern- 
ments are  not  founded  on  Christianity;  where  Bible 
truth  does  not  enter  into  their  education  and  civil 
institutions,  and  tell  me  what  his  people  get  there?  Do 
they  get  freedom — civil  and  religious,  protection  for 
life,  property  and  pursuits,  and  manhood  equality? 
No!  Then  let  him  come  back  to  this  land  where 
Christianity  underlies  the  government  and  all  its 
institutions;  where  through  the  common  schools 
Christian  truth  is  poured  into  all  the  national  veins; 
then  with  a  freeman's  ballot  in  his  hand,  let  him 
count  up  his  blessings:  full  protection  for  his  religion, 
his  life,  his  property,  his  pursuits,  intellectual  and 
material.  And  with  the  regal  coronet  of  manhood 
and  liberty  upon  his  brow,  I  ask  him  would  he  banish 
the  truth  which  has  conferred  such  an  inheritance 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  117 

upon  him?  Has  he  reason  to  say  such  a  book  is 
offensive  and  oppressive?  And  the  very  conduct  of 
the  Jews  in  regard  to  our  schools  proves  that  this 
plea  is  put  into  their  mouths  by  those  who  would  use 
them  for  a  purpose.  But  if  they  hold  such  a  thought, 
justice  and  gratitude  to  their  adopted  country  demand 
that  they  retract  it. 

But  there  is  another  class,  it  is  said,  which  the  Bible 
is  guilty  of  offending.  There  are  several  thousand 
Chinese  in  California.  Many  of  them  own  property 
and  pay  taxes,  and  if  they  should  hear  the  second 
commandment  read  in  the  schools,  and  that  Jesus 
Christ  was  greater  than  Confucius,  and  that  they 
ought  to  worship  God  and  not  idols,  then  the  children 
will  not  reverence  the  idols  they  find  at  home,  and 
the  parents  will  be  deeply  offended,  will  complain 
that  their  rights  and  liberty  of  conscience  is  violated, 
and  they  will  demand  a  division  of  the  school  fund. 
Then  it  is  a  great  crime  in  the  Bible  that  it  cannot 
make  darkness  and  light  agree,  and  for  such  guilty 
weakness  it  must  be  turned  out  of  school.  At  the 
bidding  of  John  Chinaman  this  nation  must  put  out 
its  eyes,  or  quench  the  sun  in  the  heavens.  The  right 
of  the  national  conscience  to  light  and  freedom  is  not 
higher  than  the  right  of  a  personal  conscience  from 
the  Celestial  Empire!  What  insufferable  effrontery! 
to  see  men  fleeing  from  the  barbarism,  despotism,  and 
darkness  of  their  birth-place  into  this  land  of  freedom, 
light  and  happiness,  and  before  they  have  looked  upon 
it  long  enough  to  heal  their  blinking,  purblind  vision, 
they  coolly  turn  round  to  tell  us  that  they  are  offended 
with  the  Divine  foundation-stone  our  fathers  laid 
beneath  the  temple  of  liberty,  and  they  propose  to 
remove  it  and  place  one  there  hewn  out  by  Confucius, 


Il8  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

or  one  blessed  by  the  Pope  of  Rome,  or  one  dug  uj> 
by  Humboldt  in  Germany,  or  one  taken  from  the 
quarries  of  France  by  Voltaire,  or  from  some  other 
place  where  the  air  of  Christian  freedom  has  never 
been  breathed,  or  leave  the  temple  of  liberty  without 
any  foundation.  What  shameless  ingratitude!  Given 
a  free  asylum  from  darkness  and  oppression,  exalted 
to  the  position  of  men,  with  every  personal  right  they 
can  reasonably  demand  most  sacredly  guarded,  they 
are  displeased.  Then  we  say,  if  our  Canaan  don't  suit 
you,  go  back  to  the  flesh-pots  and  brick-kilns  of 
Egypt;  for  we  cannot  try  the  hopeless  experiment  of 
building  a  nation  without  a  God,  a  Sabbath,  and  a 
moral  code,  without  the  education  of  the  affections 
and  moral  nature  of  man. 

But,  one  says,  you  should  not  say  this  about  for- 
eigners, they  have  a  right  to  a  home  and  freedom 
here,  and  this  country  needs  them.  I  readily  concede 
their  creation  rights,  and  freedom  here,  but  they  have 
no  right  to  arrest  the  freedom  and  right  of  the  State- 
in  her  freedom  to  perpetuate  her  existence  in  liberty 
and  Christian  civilization.  If  this  is  to  be  their  work^ 
this  land  has  no  need  of  them. 

Another  reason  for  turning  the  Bible  out  of  school 
is  that  it  is  a  sectarian  book!  What  evidence  of  this?' 
Why,  a  great  many  don't  believe  in  it.  If  that  makes 
it  sectarian,  then  the  Creator  is  sectarian,  for  many 
claim  they  don't  believe  in  Him;  then  human  freedom 
is  sectarian,  for  many  don't  believe  it  is  the  rightful 
inheritance  of  all  men.  God  gave  His  Son  to  the 
world,  and  the  unbelief  and  rejection  of  Him  by  many 
does  not  disprove  this  truth,  or  make  Him  a  sectarian 
Saviour.  The  Word  of  God  is  no  more  sectarian  than 
the  air  that  surrounds  the  globe,  as  it  is  the  only  truth 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


119 


designed  and  adapted  to  give  the  world  a  pure  moral 
atmosphere.  It  is  no  more  sectarian  than  the  sunlight 
that  enfolds  and  gladdens  the  earth,  for  it  is  the 
only  light  that  can  enlighten  the  pathways  and  tombs 
of  any  land.  All  its  great  truths,  principles  and  laws 
are  as  universal  as  the  intelligent  creation  of  God. 
But  it  should  be  turned  out  because  it  alone  is 
guilty  of  producing  discord  and  strife.  Some  people 
used  to  tell  us  that  abolitionism  was  the  sole  cause 
of  trouble  in  this  land;  just  let  slavery  alone  and  we 
can  have  peace!  But  slavery  would  not  let  us  alone, 
and  now  Romanism,  infidelity,  communism,  filthiness, 
political  thievery,  corruption,  and  every  deviltry  that 
imperils  the  nation's  life  will  not  let  us  alone,  however 
peaceable  we  may  be.  But  some  Protestants  on  the 
affirmative  of  the  question  say  it  is  such  a  mere  per- 
functory service,  its  reading  has  so  little  effect,  is  of 
so  little  value,  why  not  give  it  up  for  the  sake  of  peace? 
My  dear  Protestant  brother,  why  can  you  not  persuade 
your  Catholic  or  infidel  brother  to  reason  thus:  It 
is  a  mere  perfunctory  performance  of  no  educative  or 
religious  influence,  and  we  will  not  disturb  the  vast 
educational  interests  of  the  land  about  such  a  trifling 
matter?  Would  it  not  be  well  for  these  flexible 
brethren  to  exhort  the  agitators  on  tnat  side  a  while, 
and  read  them  a  lesson  on  forbearance  and  charity? 
That  the  service  is  perfunctory  enough  we  all  admit; 
but  this  persistent  clamor  and  obstinate  opposition 
to  its  presence  prove  that  its  influence  is  felt,  that  its 
leaven  works,  that  its  hammer  strikes,  that  its  fire  is 
burning  a  little  at  least.  The  mere  recognition  of  its 
authority  by  commanding  the  school  in  silence  to 
hear  it  read,  has  a  restraining,  controlling,  educating 
influence!  nay,  more,  if  laid  unopened  upon  the  desk 


I20  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

in  every  school  room,  it  would  have  a  power,  as  it  is 
known  to  be  the  Book  of  books,  the  Law-book  of  the 
King  of  kings,  and  this  bitter  war  against  it  is  a 
testimony  to  its  irresistible  influence,  which  I  am 
ashamed  any  Protestant  should  attempt  to  hide.  You 
cannot  persuade  a  Catholic  infidel  that  the  Bible  has 
no  power  in  the  schools ;  they  know  better.  The  mere 
recognition  of  it  as  the  perfect  law  of  Divine  justice 
and  the  only  standard  of  pure  morals  makes  it  a  power, 
and  this  is  just  what  the  infidel  and  rationalist  especi- 
ally object  to.  And  it  is  because  of  this  salutary, 
silent,  yet  immeasurable  power  in  national  justice  and 
morality  that  we  protest  against  its  expulsion  from 
the  educational  system  of  the  land.  This  charge 
against  the  Bible  as  the  troubler  of  the  school  is 
about  as  reasonable  and  just  as  king  Ahab  accusing 
Elijah  of  troubling  Israel.  But  the  prophet's  reply  is, 
"I  have  not  troubled  Israel,  but  thou  and  thy  father's 
house,"  etc.  So  we  say  to  the  infidel.  Teuton  and 
Catholic,  "The  Bible  is  not  a  troubler  of  the  schools, 
but  you  and  your  father's  house  at  Rome."  For 
two  hundred  years  this  book  has  been  an  instructor  in 
the  schools  of  the  land,  and  we  can  say  of  it  as  Pilate 
did  of  its  Author,  "We  find  no  fault  in  it." 

II.  What  good  will  its  expulsion  do? 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  said  the  Bible  will  do  a  world 
of  good  in  the  schools,  and  no  harm.  Yet  he  was 
willing  to  give  up  this  world  of  good  for  nothing. 
But  you  must  remember  he  was  so  liberal  a  fellow 
he  would  give  away  almost  anything  that  did  not 
belong  to  him.  And  he  was  so  cosmopolitan,  both 
in  his  precepts  and  practice,  that  the  world  has  been 
disputing  for  years  as  to  what  his  faith  and  practice 
was.     What  good  will  its  expulsion  do? 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  121 

If  it  can  be  shown  that  a  vast  amount  of  good  will 
result,  we  must  yield,  but  we  must  demand  a  great 
reward  for  such  a  sacrifice  as  we  believe  this  to  be. 
What  good  will  it  do?  Will  it  be  any  advantage  to 
Romanism?  Will  it  encourage  and  promote  the 
growth  of  papal  error  and  power  in  the  land?  Lead- 
ing Romanists  say  it  will,  and  we  believe  they  know 
and  are  right  in  their  judgment.  Cardinals  and 
bishops  might  truly  say  to  each  other,  "It  cost  us 
armies,  blood  and  treasure  to  save  France  from  the 
Huguenots.  Three  centuries  of  persecution  and  war 
has  not  wrested  the  Bible  from  a  little  band  of  Wal- 
denses.  The  Hollanders  conquered  us  when  we  were 
mighty,  and  have  kept  the  Bible  in  their  schools. 
But  America,  in  the  hour  of  her  strength  and  glory, 
we  have  taken  by  a  fallacy.  We  told  them  that  they 
had  a  State  without  religion,  and  they  believed  it. 
Nay,  more,  Protestant  ministers  came  forward  to  help 
prove  it!  We  also  told  them  that,  as  a  logical 
sequence,  they  have  a  school  system  without  a  religion, 
and  they  believed  that  too.  We  have  struck  the 
American  republic  the  heaviest  blow  it  has  ever 
received.  Slavery  fought  their  national  liberty,  and 
they  conquered.  We  assail  their  national  religion, 
and  they  yield  without  a  struggle.  We  have  burnt 
Bibles  by  the  hundreds  and  by  the  thousands,  and 
have  turned  it  out  of  schools  by  tens  of  thousands. 
Our  emissaries  stand  at  the  doors  of  sixty-five  thou- 
sand schools,  and  receive  them  from  two  hundred 
thousand  teachers."  Cardinals  and  bishops  would 
have  just  ground  for  such  language,  and  might  afTord 
the  expense  of  several  thousand  Bibles  to  light  their 
bonfires  of  triumph.  Now,  if  you  think  the  growth  of 
popery  good  for  this  land,  you  can  aid  it  in  this  way. 


122  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

If  it  will  advance  knowledge,  purity  and  happiness; 
if  it  will  promote  justice,  and  wealth,  and  peace;  if  it 
will  spread  light  and  freedom,  then  you  are  bound  to 
do  this,  because  for  this  the  State  was  instituted. 
Will  it? 

But  one  says  it  will  bring  the  Catholic  children^ 
thus  give  a  chance  to  educate  them  intellectually  at 
least,  which  is  much  better  for  the  country  than  to 
have  them  grossly  ignorant.  But  I  think  it  will  not 
do  even  this  much.  Catholic  journals,  writers,  priests 
and  bishops  scoff  at  the  idea  that  they  would  patronize 
schools  where  there  is  no  religion.  Since  the  expulsion 
of  the  Bible,  Bishop  McQuaid  says:  "These  public 
schools  are  built  by  force  to  give  education  without 
God,  without  religion.  .  .  .  According  to  the 
law,  God  is  not  allowed  to  enter  into  the  public 
schools." 

A  priest,  writing  in  The  Boston  Advertiser,  says: 
"Catholics  would  not  be  satisfied  if  the  Protestant 
Bible  and  every  vestige  of  religion  was  banished  from 
the  schools."  They  demand  that  the  teacher  shall  be 
a  priest,  at  least  a  Catholic,  and  their  version  not 
simply  read,  but  expounded — taught  there;  for,  says 
the  Catholic  Tablet,  "Education  is  the  business  of  the 
spiritual  society  alone."  What  the  Romanists  desire 
is  to  disturb,  and,  if  possible,  destroy  the  whole  system 
of  public  schools,  and  they  are  willing  to  co-operate 
with  any  and  every  enemy  of  the  Bible  to  accomplish 
this  end,  hoping  then,  either  to  divide  the  school  fund 
(as  they  have  done  in  East  St.  Louis),  or  to  secure 
wholly  the  instruction  of  American  children.  And 
other  enemies  of  the  Bible  make  this  only  the  first  step 
in  driving  Christian  principles  out  of  every  civil 
institution  of  the  land.     If  the  Catholic  wanted  the 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  123, 

Bible  out,  simply  that  he  might  patronize  the  school 
with  a  good  conscience,  I  could  feel  much  more  lenient 
towards  his  motive;  but,  believing  that  his  object  is 
only  the  destruction  of  the  system,  I  can  feel  no 
sympathy.  Let  us  hear  their  prominent  exponents: 
The  pope,  who  is  received  by  his  Church  as  the 
infallible  representative  of  God  upon  earth,  has  sol- 
emnly declared  in  the  syllabus  that  Church  and  State- 
should  be  united,  and  that  the  Church  should  control 
the  schools.  The  Freeman's  Journal,  in  New  York, 
says  plainly  that  "The  school  tax  in  itself  is  an  unjust 
imposition."  The  Tablet  announces  that  it  is  opposed 
to  "purely  secular  schools."  The  Catholic  Telegraphy 
in  Ohio,  asserts  that  "It  will  be  a  glorious  day  for 
Catholics  in  this  country  when  ,  .  .  our  school  system 
shall  be  shivered."  The  Catholic  Columbian,  the  organ 
of  the  Roman  bishop  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  says  that 
"Catholic  parents  cannot  be  allowed  the  sacraments"^ 
who  send  their  children  by  preference  to  the  public 
schools.  Archbishop  Purcell,  of  Cincinnati,  writes 
that  he  does  not  approve  of  the  public  school  system. 
This  is  only  the  shadow  of  the  Pope's  big  toe;  his 
purpose  is  to  set  his  foot  upon  it  with  crushing  weight. 
But,  say  some,  many  parents,  in  spite  of  priests  and 
spiritual  rulers,  would  send  their  children  to  the  schools 
if  the  Bible  is  removed.  Why  do  they  not  do  it  now? 
There  are  thousands  of  professedly  good  Catholics 
who  will  tell  you  now  that  the  Bible  question  is  not 
troubling  them,  they  do  not  think  our  English  version 
dangerous  to  their  souls ;  why,  then,  do  they  not  send 
their  children  now?  Simply  because  of  priestly 
despotism.  Suppose  you  were  to  go  to  a  genuine 
Catholic  to-day  and  ask  if  the  Bible  was  removed  from 
the  schools  and  the  priest  and  Pope  should  forbid 


124  ^^^  GOLDEN  POT. 

you  to  send  your  children,  would  you  send  them? 
No.  They  would  cease  to  be  Catholic  if  they  did.  By 
such  an  act  of  disobedience  they  would  trample  under 
foot  the  fundamental  law  of  papal  authority,  and  these 
parents  would  soon  find  themselves  excommunicated, 
or  made  to  feel  such  penalties  as  would  either  compel 
them  to  retract,  or  break  their  ecclesiastical  connection 
forever;  and  with  such  maledictions  and  social  ostra- 
cism threatening  them,  how  many  would  dare  disobey? 
The  experience  of  the  past  clearly  shows  there  would 
be  few,  very  few,  too  few  to  justify  such  a  concession 
as  this.  No,  it  is  the  principle  of  State  schools,  and 
the  Bible  among  the  people,  that  Romanism  is  op- 
posed to.  How  many  go  when  the  Bible  is  put  out? 
Says  the  Freeman's  Journal  (Catholic) :  "If  the  Catholic 
translation  of  the  books  of  Holy  Writ  were  to  be 
dissected  by  the  ablest  Catholic  indorsement,  and  these 
admirable  Bible  lessons  alone  to  be  read  in  the  public 
schools,  this  would  not  diminish  the  objections  we 
Catholics  have  to  the  public  schools.  The  Catholic 
solution  of  this  muddle  about  the  Bible  or  no  Bible 
in  schools  is  'hands  off.'  You  take  care  of  your  chil- 
dren and  we  will  take  care  of  ours.  Let  the  public 
school  system  go  where  it  came  from — the  devil. 
You  will  catch  few  Catholics  by  expelling  the  Bible." 
It  will  do  no  good  in  this  way.  What  other  good 
will  it  do?  Will  it  aid  infidelity  and  atheism  by  re- 
moving a  most  impregnable  barrier  to  their  progress 
out  of  the  way?  Will  it  be  any  advantage  to  the 
■creed  of  rationalists?  They  all  certainly  believe  it 
will  or  they  would  not  so  earnestly  demand  it,  so 
persistently  contend  for  its  expulsion.  And  they  are 
certainly  justified  in  thinking  so.  When  this  is  done 
they  can  turn  round  and  say,  "Now  the  world  can  see 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  125 

that  free,  enlightened  America  is  with  us;  they  have 
kicked  the  old  filthy  book  of  superstition  out  of  their 
schools  as  unfit  for  the  people  to  read,  but  Buckle, 
Combe,  Draper  and  Darwin,  Huxley,  Mill  and 
Spencer  are  kept  in  many  schools  of  the  higher  grade. 
Now  it  will  not  be  difficult  for  us  to  persuade  the  lads 
and  lasses  of  this  land  that  the  God  and  Redeemer 
of  this  book  is  a  myth,  and  that  it  is  simply  a  jumble 
of  mythology,  allegory  and  superstition."  Whenever 
they  can  get  the  State  to  cease  teaching  the  Bible  as 
the  Word  of  God,  and  as  the  standard  of  justice  and 
morality,  and  get  it  to  stop  appealing  to  it  as  such, 
that  moment  they  make  the  State,  to  a  certain  degree, 
an  ally  of  their  infidelity.  Disguise  it  as  you  may, 
this  exclusion  of  the  Bible  from  our  public  schools 
is  a  measure  in  the  interest  of  Romanism,  rationalism 
and  infidelity;  not  simply  a  neutral  position  between 
these  and  Protestantism;  for  they  have  combined 
harmoniously  together  to  press  this  end  to  its  complete 
accomplishment.  Italy,  to-day,  is  nothing  but  a  mix- 
ture of  superstition  and  of  bold  unbelief.  In  France, 
the  professed  religion  of  the  establishment  and  of  the 
uneducated  masses  is  Romanism;  while  that  of  the 
elite  and  learned  is  open  infidelity. 

Now,  if  the  condition  of  crushed  Italy  and  restless, 
tottering  France  is  better  than  a  firm  Christian  repub- 
lic, then  you  can  get  this  good  by  excluding  the  Bible! 
Is  this  the  good  you  promise  yourselves  by  this 
measure?  I  think  not.  But,  perhaps,  you  say  this 
will  bring  peace  and  safety  to  the  distracted  and  im- 
periled system  of  common  schools.  Let  us  see.  There 
are  several  millions  of  Protestants  in  this  land  who 
believe  with  all  the  power  of  deep  conviction  that  the 
morality  of  the  Bible,  infused  into  the  national  life 


J26  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

through  her  educational  institutions,  is  essential  to  her 
.safety,  her  very  being;  that  intellectual  culture  without 
Christian  morality  is  a  curse  rather  than  a  blessing; 
that  paganism,  Romanism,  rationalism  or  utter  god- 
lessness,  is  not  as  good  for  a  nation  as  Christianity; 
that  the  principles  of  Christianity  underlie  the  whole 
.superstructure  of  the  republic;  therefore  they  believe 
that  this  measure  imperils  not  only  the  morality, 
strength  and  prosperity,  but  the  very  life  of  their 
<:ountry.  But  you  say  these  infidels,  Jews,  Romanists, 
etc.,  are  so  strong  and  obstinate  in  their  conviction 
they  will  not  yield. 

But  these  millions  of  Protestants  have  such  weak 
convictions,  or  else  their  religion  has  taught  such 
charity  and  forbearance,  or,  in  other  words,  has  made 
them  such  poltroons,  they  will  yield  their  most  precious 
principles  for  sake  of  peace!  Ah,  indeed!  When 
was  this  astounding  discovery  made?  Those  who 
think  thus  have  either  never  read  history,  or  have  read 
it  in  vain.  If  it  teaches  any  one  thing  clearly,  it  is  that 
Christians  never  yield  a  moral  principle.  They  love 
peace.  They  are  followers  of  the  Prince  of  peace; 
but  they  have  been  taught  by  Him  that  peace  only 
comes  through  freedom  founded  on  pure  moral  truth, 
and  whenever  you  make  your  schools  a  place  where 
the  Author  of  Christianity  cannot  be  spoken  of,  or 
only  spoken  of  as  a  historic  character,  like  Mohammed, 
or  Julius  Caesar,  or  Napoleon ;  where  the  child  cannot 
be  told  that  the  great  teacher  and  preacher  was  God; 
where  he  cannot  be  told  that  he  has  a  soul,  and  there  is 
a  code  of  morality  higher  than  human  statutes  and 
police  records;  when  you  remove  from  your  schools 
everything  that  can  offend  a  Jew,  Mohammedan, 
Chinaman  or  common  infidel,  then  these  twenty  mil- 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  127 

lion  Protestants  will  withhold  their  children  and  put 
them  into  schools  of  their  own,  where  they  can  learn 
such  truth  as  will  fit  them  for  free  self-government, 
and  qualify  them  to  preserve  and  perpetuate  liberty, 
republicanism  and  Christianity.  You  are  pushing  the 
only  measure  that  can  break  the  common  school 
system  of  this  country  into  ruinous  fragments. 

But  some  make  this  kind  of  argument:  There  is 
plenty  of  room  outside  the  common  school  to  teach  the 
Bible.     Educate  in  morality  and  religion  in  the  family, 
the  Sabbath  school  and  the  Church,  and  let  the  State 
school  educate  only  the  citizen.     Now,  this  argument 
either  implies  that  children  only  need  moral  instruction 
because  they  are  to  be  men,  not  because  they  are  to 
be  citizens,  or  it  implies  that  the  State  should  delegate 
this  part  of  her  duty  to  the  Church,  and  hold  her 
responsible   for  this   part  of  the  citizen's   education, 
thus  uniting  Church  and  State.     Thus  the  State,  while 
taxing  the  people  to  fit  the  children  for  citizenship, 
asks  the  family,  Sabbath  school  and  Church  to  do  this 
part  of  her  work  gratuitously.     Certainly  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  Church,  if  within  her  power,  to  give  moral  and 
religious  instruction  to  every  immortal  soul,  because 
it  is  a  rational  and  immortal  soul,  and  not  because  it  is 
a  citizen.     If  the  moral,  practical  principles  of  Chris- 
tianity are  needful  to  be  known  and  practiced  to  make 
the  best  citizen  (and  few  thoughtful  persons  will  deny 
this),  then  it  is  the  duty  of  the  State,  for  her  own  sake, 
to  have  these  taught,  whoever  may  object.     And  there 
are  thousands  of  children  that  are  soon  to  be  citizens 
with  fearful  power  in  this  land,  who  are  not  taught  any 
of  these  principles  in  the  family,  and  whom  the  Church 
and  the  Sabbath  school  cannot  reach,  and  whom  for 
lier  own  sake  and  for  the  life  and  welfare  of  the  nation, 


128  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

the  State  should  reach  even  if  it  be  by  a  species  of 
compulsion.  The  State  should  do  her  duty  whether 
the  Church  does  hers  or  not.  And  having  taxed  the 
people  to  enable  her  to  do  the  work  of  educating 
citizens,  she  cannot  turn  that  over  to  any  other 
organization. 

Another,  a  clergyman,  comforts  us  with  the  thought 
(as  if  he  had  made  a  discovery)  that  God  can  take  care 
of  and  vindicate  His  own  truth.  So  He  can  take  care 
of  the  city,  State  and  nation;  so  we  had  better  abdicate 
every  position  and  duty  He  has  required  of  us  and  tell 
Him,  as  He  has  the  power,  to  attend  to  matters  and 
give  us  no  trouble!  He  took  care  of  the  antediluvian 
world,  and  of  Sodom,  and  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel. 
And  if  we  cast  off  all  reverence  for  His  fear,  and 
respect  for  His  authority  and  law.  He  may  take  care 
of  our  city  as  of  Sodom,  and  of  our  nation  as  of 
shivered  Israel;  but  if  we  don't  desire  to  fall  into  the 
care  of  insulted  justice,  it  would  be  better  to  know 
and  regard  the  principles  of  eternal  justice  and  right. 

But  some  say  although  we  expel  the  Bible  from  the 
schools,  yet  we  intend  to  have  its  morality  taught  in 
them.  We  intend  to  teach  our  future  citizens  integrity, 
truthfulness,  honor,  honesty,  virtue  and  purity.  This 
is  strange!  You  are  going  to  teach  the  principles  of 
the  book,  yet  expel  the  book  and  deny  that  it  is  a 
standard  of  justice  and  morals.  You  are  going  to 
teach  law  according  to  Blackstone  as  the  only  standard, 
yet  leave  Blackstone  out!  You  are  going  to  teach 
the  principles  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States, 
yet  discard  it  as  a  standard,  and  forbid  the  reading 
of  it!  This  is  worse  than  the  play  of  Hamlet  with 
Hamlet  left  out.  You  propose  to  steal  the  morals  of 
the  Bible  and  not  let  any  one  know  where  you  get 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  129 

them,  then  teach  your  scholars  not  to  steal !  Suppose 
the  teacher  tries  to  teach  the  young  Yankee  he  should 
not  lie;  it  is  wrong.  Who  says  it  is  wrong?  God 
says  it  is  wrong.  How  do  you  know?  Did  He  tell 
you?  His  law  says  so.  Where?  I  would  like  to 
see  the  book;  for  my  pap  says  it  is  sometimes  right 
to  lie;  that  one  of  the  wisest  men,  Plato,  said  men 
might  lie  if  they  knew  how  to  do  it!  Suppose  she  tries 
to  teach  another  he  should  not  steal,  but  he  says,  I 
would  like  to  see  the  papers  for  that;  for  I  heard  my 
father  say  it  is  no  great  crime  for  a  man  to  steal 
a  little  from  another  who  has  lots  more  than  he  has; 
and  he  said  that  Austippus,  a  very  learned  man  among 
the  ancients,  said,  "A  wise  man  might  steal  when  he 
could  without  crime  wronging  others."  When  you 
propose  to  teach  morals  you  will  find  you  need  a 
statute  book,  and  a  recognized,  rightful  authority 
behind  the  precepts  to  give  them  force  upon  the  con- 
science. They  who  hope  to  keep  all  the  morals  and 
virtues  of  Christianity,  yet  expel  its  statute  book,  are 
deceiving  themselves  with  mere  words  and  names. 

On  but  one  principle  can  we  sustain  common 
school  education,  so  essential  to  our  national  per- 
petuity, and  that  is  by  starting  on  the  principle  that  we 
are  a  Christian  country,  and  that  heathenism,  infidelity 
and  all  kindred  systems,  must  submit  to  the  preference 
of  Christianity.  Said  the  great  Webster:  "Objection 
to  the  multitude  and  differences  of  sects  is  but  the  old 
story,  the  old  infidel  argument."  It  is  notorious  that 
there  are  great  religious  truths  which  are  admitted 
and  believed  by  all  Christians;  and  cannot  all  these 
great  truths  be  taught  to  children  without  their  minds 
being  perplexed  with  crushing  doctrines  and  sectarian 
controversies?     And  I  assure  you  these  truths  form 


I30 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


the  trunk  from  which  grow  out  all  the  moralities  and 
virtues  of  life  as  branches.  Without  them  no  moral 
life  or  force  can  be  put  into  the  character  of  the  pupils 
and  citizens  you  are  educating.  And  Protestants 
cannot  support  a  system  without  these.  Then,  instead 
of  peace,  this  expulsion  will  produce  utter  ruin.  It 
can  do  no  possible  good,  but  will  do  great  evil. 

This  brings  me  to  the  last  query  proposed: 

III.  What  evil  will  its  expulsion  do? 

I  have  already  mentioned  incidentally  several  evils 
that  will  result  from  this  exclusion.  Among  these  I 
will  refer  again  to  the  fact  that  it  will  not  only  give 
an  advantage  to  Romanism  and  every  form  of  error, 
skepticism  and  unbelief,  but  it  will  ofTend  and  alienate 
the  oldest  and  firmest  supporters  of  our  comm.on 
school  system;  that  is,  the  genuine  Protestants  of 
the  land.  Careful  inquiry  will  show  beyond  cavil  that 
these  have  ever  been  the  originators,  supporters  and 
defenders  of  this  grand  system  of  public  instruction. 
Dr.  Clark,  of  Albany,  truly  says:  "Common  schools 
are  the  offspring  of  Protestantism;  we  have  them  be- 
cause we  are  not  under  the  domination  of  the  Pope. 
Romanism  is  the  enemy  of  common  schools,  of 
popular  education  in  every  form.  The  glory  of  our 
system  is  universal  education;  that  of  Rome,  universal 
ignorance.  The  meridian  of  Romish  ascendency  was 
the  midnight  of  the  world's  history."  Is  it  wise,  is  it 
safe,  to  offend  and  alienate  these  old,  tried  friends? 
Could  you  get  the  support  of  even  seven  million 
Romanists  (granting  there  are  so  many),  by  offending 
and  losing  fifteen  to  twenty  or  thirty  million  Protes- 
tants, as  a  mere  matter  of  policy,  would  this  be  wise 
and  safe?  Is  there  not  a  danger  here  worth  guarding 
against? 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  i^t 

Another  evil  is,  you  banish  from  your  schools  the 
best  book,  in  a  mere  literary  point  of  view,  that  the 
world  contains.  Said  Sir  William  Jones,  "These  Holy 
Scriptures  contain  more  true  sublimity,  more  exquisite 
beauty,  more  pure  morality,  more  important  history, 
and  finer  strains  of  poetry  and  eloquence,  than  can 
be  collected  from  all  other  books,  in  whatever  age  or 
language  they  may  have  been  written."  Said  Dr. 
Fisher  Ames,  a  distinguished  American  statesman, 
"I  will  hazard  the  assertion  that  no  man  ever  did,  or 
ever  will  become  truly  eloquent  without  being  a  con- 
stant reader  of  the  Bible  and  an  admirer  of  the  purity 
and  sublimity  of  its  language."  Said  Daniel  Webster, 
"I  have  read  through  the  entire  Bible  many  times. 
It  is  the  book  of  all  others  for  lawyers  as  well  as  divines; 
and  I  pity  the  man  who  cannot  find  in  it  a  rich  supply 
of  thought,  and  of  rules  for  his  conduct.  It  fits  a  man 
for  life;  it  prepares  him  for  death."  John  Locke  says, 
"It  has  God  for  its  Author,  salvation  for  its  end,  and 
truth  without  any  mixture  of  error  for  its  matter." 
Savs  an  eminent  Catholic  writer,  "The  uncommon 
beauty  and  marvellous  English  of  the  Protestant  Bible 
is  one  of  the  great  strongholds  of  heresy  in  this  coun- 
try! It  lives  on  the  ear  like  the  music  that  can  never 
be  forgotten,  like  the  sound  of  church  bells  which 
the  convert  hardly  knows  how  to  forego.  Its  felicities 
often  seem  to  be  almost  things,  rather  than  words. 
The  power  of  all  the  griefs  and  trials  of  a  man  is  hidden 
beneath  its  words.  It  is  the  representation  of  his  best 
moments,  and  all  that  there  has  been  about  him  of 
soft,  and  gentle,  and  pure,  and  penitent,  and  good, 
speaks  to  him  forever  out  of  his  English  Bible." 
Chalmers,  Webster,  Coleridge  and  Carlyle  agree  in 
■saying  that  the  inspired  book  of  Job  is  the  sublimest 


132  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

poem  in  the  possession  of  mankind!  And  Dr.  Frank- 
lin, for  the  most  beautiful  pastoral  story  ever  penned, 
selected  the  book  of  Ruth.  To  rob  the  citizen  pupils 
of  such  a  literary  treasure  should  cover  the  nation  with 
shame.  To  forbid  any  child  in  the  land  to  read  it 
in  school  would  dishonor  our  country  before  the  whole 
literary  world.  We  protest  against  such  an  unjust, 
ignorant,  disgraceful  edict  as  this  would  be! 

But  worse  than  this,  you  banish  the  only  book  that 
can  teach  and  enforce  with  authority  pure  moral  truth 
upon  the  conscience  and  heart.  Our  opponents  all 
say,  certainly  morality  should  be  taught  in  the  school. 
For  our  citizens  to  lie,  and  steal,  and  swear,  and  get 
drunk,  and  break  the  seventh  commandment,  would 
ruin  the  country.  For  our  politicians,  statesmen, 
rulers  and  judges  to  take  bribes  and  sell  their  votes, 
and  embezzle  public  funds,  and  gamble,  and  plot 
treason,  and  rebel  against  the  authority  of  the  govern- 
ment, would  soon  ruin  the  State.  Certainly,  morality 
should  be  taught.  Then  we  ask,  what  kind  of  moral- 
ity— pagan,  infidel  or  Christian?  Morals  of  wise  men., 
of  heathen  and  deists?  The  laws  of  Sparta  required 
theft,  and  the  murder  of  unhealthy  children.  Athena 
enacted  that  maimed  children  should  be  killed.  Plato, 
in  the  constitution  of  his  republic,  taught  the  com- 
munity of  women  and  property.  Plato  taught  he 
might  lie  who  knew  how  to  do  it.  Austippus  taught 
that  stealing  and  adultery  were  no  crimes.  Cicero 
and  Seneca  that  suicide  was  the  mark  of  a  hero.  Lord 
Herbert,  an  English  deist,  taught  that  indulgence  of 
lust  was  no  more  sin  than  indulgence  of  thirst,  and 
adulter}-  no  crime!  Another  taught  that  a  man  has 
a  right  to  all  things  and  may  get  them  if  he  can. 
Hume  taught  that  adultery  must  be  practiced  to  obtain 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  133 

all  the  advantages  of  life,  and  would  soon  come  to 
be  thought  no  Grime!  Bolingbroke  taught  that  man 
was  only  an  animal,  and  his  chief  end  to  gratify  his 
appetites  and  inclinations. 

If  vou  turn  out  this  book,  I  ask  who  can  furnish  a 
perfect  code  of  morals?  If  any  mortal  could,  can 
they  also  give  it  authority  over  the  consciences  of  men? 
Who  would  feel  bound  by  a  sixth,  seventh,  ninth  or 
tenth  commandment  issued  by  Thomas  JeiTerson, 
George  Washington  or  the  bishop  of  Oxford?  Can 
deism,  rationalism,  or  the  Pope  give  you  such  a  code? 
It  is  a  maxim  among  the  Prussians  that  whatever  you 
would  have  appear  in  the  nation's  life,  you  must  put 
into  the  public  school.  Then  if  you  would  have 
Christian  morality  essential  to  the  nation's  life,  you 
must  not  turn  the  only  law  of  Christian  morality  out 
of  the  public  education.  The  famous  ordinance  of 
1787  declares  that  "religion,  morality  and  knowledge 
being  necessary  to  a  good  government  and  the  happi- 
ness of  mankind,  schools  and  means  of  education  shall 
be  forever  encouraged."  Says  Chief  Justice  Shaw, 
''The  public  school  system  was  intended  to  supply  a 
system  of  moral  training."  Says  another  writer  on 
constitutional  interpretation,  "Security  and  morality 
are  the  supreme  laws  of  the  land."  All  past  history 
establishes  the  fact  that  no  people,  however  cultivated 
and  intelligent,  who  have  lacked  that  moral  element 
which  can  best  be  inculcated  through  a  judicious  and 
proper  infusion  of  moral  principles  in  the  daily  life 
of  the  public  schools,  have  been  able  long  to  sustain  a 
system  of  self-government.  To  suppose  that  you  can 
make  good.  safe,  useful  citizens  for  such  a  government 
•without  educating  the  moral  nature  is  preposterous. 
Such  an  education  is  simply  sharpening  a  knife  to  cut 
the  nation's  throat. 


134  1'^^  GOLDEN  POT. 

Another  fact  must  be  noticed  here,  that  is,  that 
morality  can  flow  only  from  religious  truth.  Religious 
truth  is  the  tree,  morality  is  the  fruit.  A  nation's 
morality  is  the  fruit  of  a  nation's  religion.  Pagan 
morality  is  the  result  of  pagan  religion;  Mohammedan 
from  the  Mohammedan;  Mormon  from  the  Mormon; 
Christian  from  the  Christian  religion.  Then  if  you 
would  have  Christian  morality  enter  into  the  national 
life,  you  must  keep  the  great  distinctive,  essential 
truths  in  the  national  schools. 

We  believe  the  Prussian  maxim  true,  "What  you 
would  have  appear  in  a  nation's  life  must  appear  in 
her  schools."  What  is  taught  here  flows  into  every 
vein  and  artery,  and  makes  the  throbbing  of  the  great 
national  heart.  Expel  the  Bible  from  your  schools, 
what  text-book  will  you  use  to  teach  your  coming 
citizens  and  senators  honesty  between  man  and 
man,  to  reject  bribes,  to  fear  and  respect  an  oath? 
What  book  will  you  use  to  teach  them  that  rebellion 
against  civil  government  is  a  crime,  that  perjury  and 
lying  are  crimes?  What  text-book  can  you  use  to 
fit  any  individual  to  be  either  a  citizen  or  ruler  in  such 
a  republic  as  this?  If  you  rob  the  nation  of  truth-fed, 
intellectual  and  moral  life,  then  death  is  as  sure  to 
follow  as  it  is  when  you  open  the  jugular  vein  of  a 
man!  Can  a  tree  possibly  be  healthy,  beautiful  and 
fruitful  if  the  tap-root  and  all  its  fibres  be  severed? 
Our  nation  boasts  of  its  enlightened  civilization,  its 
great  civil  institutions,  its  magnificent  charities,  ad- 
vancement in  scientific  and  practical  knowledge,  its 
rapid  development  and  unparalleled  growth  in  wealth, 
power  and  national  prestige;  true,  but  these  are  only 
the  trunk  and  branches,  but  the  intellectual,  moral 
life,  fed  upon  Divine  truth,  is  the  tap-root  that  nour- 
ishes this  grand  growth  and  fruitfulness.     Expel  the 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  1 35 

Bible  from  your  national  system  of  education,  and 
you  either  dry  up  the  life-root  or  poison  it,  and  your 
great  tree  either  withers  in  trunk  and  branch  and  be- 
comes barren,  or  bears  the  bitter  fruit  of  tyranny  and 
festering  political  social  corruption. 

Again,  you  expel  from  your  schools  the  only  book 
that  can  teach  your  children  the  true  source  and  nature 
of  civil  government,  gives  binding  authority  to  national 
statutes,  and  makes  their  execution  possible.     Take 
away  the  revealed  law  of  God  and  you  leave  no  vestige 
of  authority  for  any  human  law.     The  Bible  lays  the 
only  solid  foundation  stone  upon  which  human  gov- 
ernments can  rest  and  execute  their  laws;  for  it  makes 
the  most  high  God  the  source  of  all  authority,  civil 
government  His  ordinance,  and  civil  rulers  His  min- 
fsters,  and  enforces  obedience  to  all  human  laws  that 
do  not  contravene  the  Divine  law,  by  the  fear  of  His 
great  name  and  Almighty  arm.     "There  is  no  power 
but    of    God.     The  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of 
God."     Without  this  truth  made  known  and  accepted 
by  the  mass  in  some  name,  no  mortal  can  establish  and 
exercise  a  lawful  authority  over  men.     You  must  in 
some  way  make  human  enactments  binding  upon  the 
conscience  and  a  sin  to  break  them;  and  to  do  this, 
you  must  put  a  power  behind  them  greater  than  any 
mere  human  dictum  or  earthly  royalty.     The  people 
must  believe  in  an  absolute,  Supreme  Power,  whether 
it  be  a  false  God  or  the  true  one;  therefore,  amid  the 
horrors  of  the  French  revolution,  Robespierre  declared 
if  France  has  no  God  we  must  invent  one!     A  nation 
must  have  a  God  and  Legislator  believed  to  be  infalli- 
ble, or  you  cannot  administer  government  over  men.  ^ 
But  I  hear  some  one  say,  it  has  been  done  in  this 
land,  that  this  nation  has  acknowledged  no  God,  or 


136  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

Divine  Legislator,  yet  the  government  has  been  ad- 
ministered successfully  for  more  than  one  hundred 
years!  But  this  is  a  great  mistake.  Although  this 
truth  and  acknowledgement  is  not  in  the  written  con- 
stitution of  the  country,  yet  it  is  in  the  providential 
constitution,  and  the  people  have  submitted  to  the 
government  because  they  believed  it  to  be  an  ordinance 
of  God,  and  its  laws  enacted,  as  they  believed,  in 
accordance  with  the  Divine  law,  and  its  executors  they 
believed  to  be  the  ministers  of  God. 

But  now  there  is  a  very  large  class  of  people,  and  I 
fear  growing  rapidly,  who  believe  that  civil  govern- 
ment is  simply  a  social  compact — ^merely  an  ordinance 
of  men,  not  an  ordinance  of  God  at  all,  and  that  law  is 
just  simply  an  expression  of  the  public  will.  When 
men  come  to  believe  that  you  must  administer  these 
without  the  restraint,  without  the  commanding  power 
of  any  higher  than  human  authority,  and  without 
any  higher  than  human  legislation,  there  remains  no 
foundation  for  justice  and  right.  This  is  simply  an 
impossibility;  no  government  v/as  ever  administered 
upon  that  principle;  all  governments  have  founded 
their  laws,  and  executed  the  powers  of  government, 
by  founding  them  upon  the  religious  sentiments  of 
their  subjects.  Greece,  Rome,  India,  Persia  and 
China  founded  their  power  upon  the  convictions  of 
the  people  in  the  existence  of  a  higher  ruler  and  a 
higher  power — in  other  words,  they  received  powers 
to  execute  laws  and  the  sanction  of  these  laws  from  the 
belief  of  the  people  in  a  higher  power.  So  in  this 
nation  the  people  must  believe  in  some  power  higher 
than  an  earthly  throne;  some  legislation  higher  and 
wiser  than  human  legislation — either  the  true  and 
living  God,  or  some  false  god.     There  must  be  this 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  137 

foundation  upon  which  to  base  the  authority  of  the 
nation  and  found  its  laws;  and  whenever  you  can  bring 
the  people  to  a  universal,  or  even  an  approximate 
universal  acceptance  of  this  idea  that  law  and  justice 
is  nothing  more  than  the  judgment  of  human  legisla- 
tion, and  that  government  is  simply  the  expression  of 
the  popular  will,  then  let  me  tell  you  that  I  believe 
that  all  your  enactments  which  you  now  seem  to  think 
an  iron  fence  around  the  property  and  liberty  of  your 
people  will  be  found  to  be  simply  a  rope  of  tow,  and 
instead   of    government   and    liberty    you    will    have 
anarchy  and  licentiousness,  because  right  and  wrong 
in  this  country  will  then  simply  be  the  judgment  of  the 
majority,  and  the  judgment  of  the  majority  has  no 
right  to  bind  the  consciences  of  the  minority.     A  law 
which  issues  from  no  higher  source  than  from  human 
legislation  can  bind  no  one's  conscience.     You  may 
divorce  the  Church  and  State  forever,  but  you  cannot, 
except  in  folly,   divorce  State   and  religion.     There 
are  many  great  intellectual  and  moral  principles  with- 
out which  the  government  cannot  exist,  and  one  of 
these  is  this:  that  we  must  acknowledge  Jehovah  as 
the  supreme  source  of  authority,  and  His  revealed 
will  as  the  foundation  of  all  law  and  justice.     Without 
that  fundamental  principle  your  government  cannot 
exist.     A  great  many  bricks  may  be  taken  out  of  your 
wall  and  not  weaken  it  perceptibly.     But  you  cannot 
with  impunity  attempt  to  remove  the  foundation  stones. 
You  may  cut  ofif  many  little  branches  from  the  tree 
and  it  still  live.     But  attempt  to  sever  the  tap-root 
and  it  dies.     So,  I  tell  you,  take  up  this  foundation 
stone,  suffer  this  to  be  done  until    our    people    lose 
respect  for  the  Supreme  Ruler  and  His  revealed  will, 
and  your  republican  government  and  your  unparal- 


138  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

leled  freedom  will  be  an  impossibility.  You  might  as 
well  attempt  to  build  a  beautiful  temple  without 
foundation  stones;  you  might  as  well  expect  a  tree 
to  grow  beautiful  without  a  tap-root,  as  to  pluck  up 
those  principles  and  expect  a  strong  and  enduring 
republican  government  to  exist.  You  must  bring  this 
truth  to  the  heart  and  conscience  of  the  nation. 

But  expel  the  Bible  from  your  common  schools,  and 
you  shut  up  the  only  channel  that  can  carry  this  life- 
giving  truth  to  the  national  conscience  and  heart.  But 
I  am  here  met  by  what  is  supposed  to  be  the  strong 
fundamental  argument  of  Dr.  Spear,  and  others,  that 
our  nation  has  no  religion,  therefore  cannot  teach 
religious  truths  in  her  schools,  that  the  State  must 
treat  all  religious  opinions  alike.  I  answer,  the  latter 
statement  is  an  absurdity  and  an  impossibility.  The 
first  is  untrue,  the  second  is  a  ruinous  impossibility. 
All  men — the  Mormon,  the  Jew,  the  infidel,  the  China- 
man— all  should  have  equal  rights  before  the  law  of 
the  land  as  men.  All  should  have  the  same  protection 
in  person,  property,  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness.  All  should  be  in  that  respect  equal  before 
the  law  of  the  land;  but  that  is  quite  different  from 
treating  with  the  same  favor  and  encouragement  all 
opinions.  I  say  that  the  government  cannot  give  the 
same  favor  to  the  Josh-house  that  they  give  to  the 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ;  to  the  school  that  teaches 
the  absolute  infallibility  of  the  Pope  they  cannot  give 
the  same  encouragement  they  do  to  the  school  that 
teaches  that  God's  will  is  the  supreme  law  of  the  land. 
They  cannot  give  to  the  school  that  teaches  the  erro- 
neous doctrines  of  atheism  the  same  equality  they  do 
to  the  school  that  recognizes  the  Bible  and  God's  laws. 
They  cannot  give  to  the  polygamist  the  same  encour- 


^  THE  GOLDEN  POT.  139 

agement  that  they  do  to  the  monogamist  and  his 
family.  Every  man  sees  at  once  the  government 
cannot  do  this.  Suppose  a  man  comes  to  this 
government  and  says:  I  demand  the  same  favor 
and  encouragement  to  teach  and  disseminate  atheism 
as  you  are  giving  to  teach  the  Bible  and  acknowledge- 
ment of  God.  The  people  would  say:  "No,  sir  we 
cannot  give  it.  This  nation's  right  to  live  is  higher 
than  your  right  to  disseminate  any  particular  dogmas. 
\nd  if  this  nation  must  live  it  cannot  please  everybody. 
This  nation  is  dearer  by  far  than  any  person's  peculiar 
ideas.  Then  we  say  to  certain  men,  your  doctrines 
imperil  the  safety,  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  nation. 
Therefore  we  cannot  favor  nor  encourage  them  as  we 

do  others."  , 

That  the  State  has  no  religion  and  nothing  to  do 
with  religion  is  a  great  mistake,  and  a  most  grievous, 
fallacy      The  State  has  to  do  with  religion  and  our 
nation  has  a  religion.     The  government  has  no  re- 
ligious establishment  to  which  she  requires  citizens  to 
conform  and  never  should  have.     This    is    no    more 
necessary  to  the  nation  having  a  religion  than  it  is  for 
an  individual  in  having  a  religion  to  compel  every 
person  to  conform  to  him.     Because  of  the  defect  m 
our  organic  law  it  does  not  set  forth  the  fact,  yet  the 
State  has  a  religion.     Story,  on  the  Constitution,  says, 
"It  is  impossible  for  those  who  believe  in  the  truth 
of  Christianity  as  a  Divine  revelation  to  doubt  that  it 
is  the  special  duty  of  government  to  foster  it  among 
all  the  citizens  and  subjects."     Further,  he  says,  at  the 
time  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  "The  attempt  to  level  all  religions  and  make 
it  a  matter  of  State  policy  to  hold  all  in  utter  indif- 
ference would  have  created  universal  disapprobation. 


140 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


if  not  universal  indignation."  Judge  Duncan,  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania,  says:  "It  is  impos- 
sible to  administer  the  laws  without  taking  the  religion 
of  the  Scriptures  as  their  basis.  For  Christianity  is 
part  of  the  common  law."  Blackstone  says,  "We 
have  received  the  Christian  religion  as  part  of  the 
common  law."  The  courts  of  New  York  have  held 
Christianity  as  part  of  the  common  law;  so  has  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania.  Webster,  in  his  great  argu- 
ment in  the  Girard  will  case,  says,  "Christianity  is  the 
law  of  the  land."  Statutes  against  blasphemy,  and 
the  violation  of  the  Sabbath,  prove  this;  and,  says 
Webster,  "They  proceed  on  the  principle — the  great, 
broad  principle — that  the  preservation  of  Christianity 
is  one  of  the  great  and  leading  ends  of  government." 
Religious  services  in  Congress,  the  Legislatures,  and 
in  the  army  and  navy,  days  of  public  fasting  and 
thanksgiving,  prove  this.  The  history  of  the  country 
clearly  shows  that  our  fathers  laid  the  national  founda- 
tion on  the  great  truths  of  Christianity;  and  these 
essential  principles  underlie  all  the  institutions  of  the 
land,  and  flow  through  all  the  arteries  of  the  national 
body.  Yet  we  are  told  that  the  State  has  no  religion, 
and  nothing  to  do  with  religious  truth  or  ideas! 
Contrary  to  this,  Webster  says:  "A  republican  govern- 
ment must  have  some  religion;  for  its  end  is  the  con- 
servation of  freedom  to  the  people,  which  cannot  be 
secured  without  the  aid  of  the  great  truths  of  Chris- 
tianity. It  must  use  religion,  and  appeal  to  conscience 
and  future  retribution,  or  it  cannot  attain  its  end  in  the 
conservation  of  the  freedom  of  the  people.  It  is  not 
to  do  it  for  religion's  sake  simply,  but  it  may  and  must 
employ  religion  for  freedom's  sake."  Such  is  the 
judgment  of  one  of  the  greatest  minds  and  highest 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  141 

authorities  in  political  ethics  our  land  ever  possessed. 
And  I  fearlessly  assert  that,  from  the  time  of  Adam  ta 
the  present  hour,  there  never  was  a  nation  that  did  not 
get  its  power  to  rule  through  the  religious  sentiments 
of  its  subjects,  and  did  not  get  sanction  and  force  for 
its  laws  from  the  same  source. 

Refuse  to  recognize  any  higher  power  than  majori- 
ties, presidents  and  earthly  kings,  and  any  higher  law- 
giver than  human  legislators,  and  republican  govern- 
ment is  an  impossibility.  Let  us  for  a  moment  yield 
the  doctrine  that  the  State  has  no  religion,  and  for  this 
reason  must  exclude  religious  truth  from  everything 
supported  at  public  cost,  where  it  has  control.  Then 
there  are  your  State  prisons,  where  Christianity  has 
been  for  years  laboring  for  reform,  and  to  offer  Divine 
mercy  to  the  convict.  And  the  testimony  of  General 
Amos  Pilsbury,  Superintendent  of  Albany  Penitentiary^ 
is  that  nothing  has  been  so  beneficial  in  the  prison, 
not  only  for  reformation,  but  discipline,  as  the  Bible. 
The  testimony  of  the  Superintendent  at  Richmond, 
Va.,  and  of  these  officers  almost  everywhere  in  the 
land,  is  similar  to  this.  But  in  this  principle  you  must 
turn  the  Bible  out  of  the  convicts'  cells,  from  the 
chaplain's  desk,  remove  the  chaplain  himself,  never 
sufifer  the  criminals  to  hear  that  they  have  sinned 
against  God,  that  there  is  a  Saviour  for  the  guilty, 
never  to  hear  prayer  to  a  throne  of  grace!  Make 
their  prisons  like  those  of  Spain  and  Italy,  where  the 
Bible  never  enters!  If  the  State  can  have  nothing  to 
do  with  religion,  you  must  do  this.  Then  there  are 
our  Schools  of  Reform,  and  Houses  of  Refuge  and 
Almshouses,  where  are  children  and  adults  with  no 
possible  hope  of  any  religious  instruction  but  what 
they  get  there.     Now,  songs  of  praise,  the  reading  of 


J42 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


God's  Word,  prayers  of  faith  and  the  preaching  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  inheritance  of  these  poor  ones. 
But  on  this  principle  you  must  cut  ofif  all  these,  and 
teach  them  only  mathematical  calculation,  how  to  wear 
clothes,  make  porridge  and  dig  potatoes.  There  are 
our  asylums  for  the  deaf  and  dumb,  established  in 
almost  every  State  at  the  public  expense;  how  much 
humanity,  not  to  say  Christianity,  has  the  soul  that 
would  shut  out  the  knowledge  of  God,  of  Christ,  hope 
and  heaven  from  these,  whose  voiceless  tongues  cannot 
plead  their  own  cause?  Yet  on  this  principle  it  may 
.be  done.  Then  there  are  schools  for  the  blind,  sup- 
ported by  the  State.  Here  are  hundreds  who,  from 
raised  letter  Bibles  are,  through  their  fingers,  taking 
into  their  benighted  souls  "the  light  of  the  knowledge 
of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ."  Will 
you  put  out  this  stream  of  light  and  joy  from  the 
Redeemer's  mercy  seat,  and  make  their  darkness  most 
appalling  gloom?  Yes,  because  the  State  has  no 
religion  and  cannot  support  religion.  Abolish  forever 
your  days  of  national  fasting  and  thanksgiving,  expel 
the  Bible  and  prayers  from  your  Congress,  turn  the 
Bible  out  of  your  courts,  your  prisons,  schools  of 
charity  and  reform,  out  of  your  asylums  for  the  deaf, 
dumb  and  blind,  then  expel  it  from  sixty-five  thousand 
public  schools,  then  over  the  doors  of  all  these  institu- 
tions in  every  village,  town  and  city  from  Maine  to 
California,  from  Alaska  to  the  Gulf,  you  may  write, 
"A  State  without  religion."  But  the  writing  will 
not  long  stand ;  for  you  will  find  you  have  pushed  the 
foundation  stones  from  under  the  superstructure  of 
republican  freedom  and  it  will  fall  to  rise  no  more. 

We  plead  against  national  suicide!     Coming  events 
cast  their  shadows  before.    Infidels  and  other  opposers 


•♦•'  THE  GOLDEN  POT.  143 

of  our  religion  and  liberty  saw  this  shadow  of  the 
coming  great  national  reform  years  ago,  and  they  saw 
that  the  Bible  in  our  education  was  an  efficient  means 
to  bring  it  on  and  give  it  success;  therefore  the  Bible 
reading  in  the  schools  was  only  the  ostensible  object 
oi  their  blows;  this  thrust  was  to  cut  deeper,  to  cut  up 
by  the  roots  the  essential  life-giving  principle  of  re- 
publicanism;   that    is,    that    civil    government  is  an 
ordinance  of  God  and  the  Divine  law  the  supreme 
and  infallible  rule  of  right.     Those  two  stand  or  fall 
together.     Retain  the  Bible  in  education  and  you  may 
bring  the  nation  as  such  to  acknowledge  the  great 
principle  of  its  life  and  authority.     Expel  the  Bible  and 
this  hope  dies.     Suffer  the  organic  law  of  the  land  to 
remain  much  longer  as  it  is,  and  you  cannot  retain  the 
Bible  in  the  common  schools.     You  do  battle  at  a 
great  disadvantage.     Behind  our  otherwise  excellent 
constitution  the  enemy  stand  protected  in  the  fight. 
No  people  can  afford  to  leave  a  great  national  life- 
principle  to  the  uncertainties  of  political  parties   or 
popular  elections,  to  the  mere  spirit  of  a  legal  instru- 
ment or  the  changeableness  of  statute  enactments;  it 
must  be  established  by  a  great  test  of  law  written 
in  the  constitution.     Our  constitution  had  the  princi- 
ples of  human  freedom  in  its  first  writing,  but  suppose 
that  the   freedom   of  man,  the   equality   of  all   men 
before  the  law,  had  not  been  embodied  in  the  organic 
law,  that  it  had  been  left  to  be  fought  over  by  political 
parties  and  exposed  to  the  uncertainties  of  popular 
elections,  how  long  could  we  have  hoped  to  retain  it? 
Like    wise    men,    when    we    attained  the  crystallized 
conviction  that  all  men  are  free  and  have  equal  rights 
before  the  law,  we  embodied  that  conviction  in  the 
organic  law  of  the  land  and  made  it  safe  thereby. 


144 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


So  this  truth,  God  the  source  of  all  power,  and  the 
Divine  law  the  supreme  and  infallible  rule  of  right, 
is  a  life-truth  of  national  existence  and  authority,  and 
should  be  explicitly  and  unmistakably  embodied  in  the 
organic  law  of  the  land.  We  demand  this,  not  only 
that  we  may  retain  the  Bible  in  our  common  schools, 
but  behind  such  a  glorious  constitution  as  a  bulwark 
we  may  do  battle  against  the  enemies  of  our  beloved 
country,  the  enemies  of  humanity,  of  freedom,  and 
human  happiness.  Our  government  now  lies  upon 
the  brink  of  a  giddy  precipice  over  a  hideous  gulf. 
Expel  the  Bible  from  your  educational  system,  let 
Christian  morality  perish,  and  the  great  national  life- 
principle  taught  in  Divine  truth  die  out  of  the  hearts 
of  the  people,  and  our  great  nation  will  assuredly 
tumble  intothe  horrid,  yawning  gulf  of  misrule,  anarchy 
and  lifeless,  rotting  ruin. 


VIII. 

JX-Rays  of  the  Bible — Rays  Which  You  Cannot 

Escape. 

*'  The  Word  of  God  is  quick  and  powerful,  dividing  asunder  soul  and 

spirit,  a  discerntr  of  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart,''' 

Hebrews  iv:  12. 

When  Paul  says  the  Word  of  God  is  "quick,"  he 
means  it  is  vital,  and  has  vitalizing  power,  or  the 
power  to  communicate  life.  Professor  Roentgen 
(Renken),  of  the  Royal  University  of  Wurtsburg, 
working  in  his  laboratory,  discovered  something  he 
had  never  detected  before;  something  penetrating, 
powerful,  piercing  through  what  was  supposed  to  be 
impenetrable,  and  revealing,  bringing  to  light  and 
sight  what  before  was  supposed  to  be  invisible! 
Penetrating  flesh,  bone,  wood  and  metal!  This 
something  he  called  rays.  If  he  gave  them  the  correct 
name,  then  they  must  have  come  from  some  radiant 
•source  that  had  the  power  to  produce  and  send  them 
out!  And  they  have  been  pouring  out,  unwasting, 
from  that  original  creative  source  ever  since  the  first 
radiant  beam  broke  from  this  fountain,  to  penetrate 
the  created,  material  world!  They  have  been  opera- 
tive, with  all  this  mysterious  might,  through  the  his- 
torical and  pre-historical  ages  of  time!  And  in  this 
close  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Professor  Renken 
discovered  this  fact;  he  made  nothing  new  nor  put 
in  action  anything  before  inactive,  he  only  uncovered 
a  fact,  something  active,  and  made  possible  its  direc- 
tion, application  and  utility.     For  this  he  has  been 


146  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

made  famous,  honored  and  ennobled.  This  is  cer- 
tainly not  improper,  but  if  he  has  discovered  a  fact, 
a  beneficent  power,  let  us,  at  least,  acknowledge  and 
honor  God,  the  Originator,  as  much  as  the  discoverer! 
Now,  let  us  admit  the  utmost  that  is  claimed  for  this 
mysterious  force,  yet  is  there  not,  proceeding  from 
Divine  Truth,  a  force  analagous  to,  yet  far  superior 
to  this? 

The  Bible  itself  may  represent  only  the  vacuum 
tube,  Crooke's  or  Wittorfs,  but  the  mysterious,  re- 
vealing force  that  streams  from  it  are  rays  of  Divine 
radiancy  and  power  that  has  only  been  discovered  by 
men;  they  had  nothing  to  do  with  bringing  its  force 
into  being  or  activity.  They  only  discovered  a  fact, 
that  from  and  through  this  Book  there  comes  a  pene- 
trating, revealing  power  that  issues  from  no  other,  nor 
all  books  united  on  earth;  that  through  the  truth 
it  contains  comes  to  every  mind  and  soul  that  is 
exposed  to  it  an  influence  and  energy  more  incom- 
prehensible, mighty  and  resistless  than  comes  from 
any  other  known  source  among  men!  And  this 
vitality  and  energy  was  not  brought  into  being  or 
activity  by  discovery,  but  had  an  original  eternal 
existence  and  activity  flowing  out  through  all  un- 
measured ages  from  the  shining  fountain  of  Divine 
light  and  life.  But  it  did  not  penetrate  and  illumine 
human  souls  until  it  was  gathered  and  concentrated 
in  the  truth  of  this  Book,  and  souls  were  exposed  to 
it,  as  objects  are  to  the  Renken  rays  from  a  vacuum 
tube.  We  have  discovered  that  the  mysterious, 
matchless  power  comes  from  the  eternal  spirit  of  our 
redeeming  Lord,  and  has  poured  forth  from  Him 
through  all  past  eternities,  and  reaches  and  operates 
on  human  souls  through  His  revealed  Word! 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  147 

Second.  Professor  Renken  calls  his  discovery 
X-Rays.  I  suppose  because  X  is  the  Unknown,  in 
an  algebraic  problem,  and  its  value  cannot  be  known 
until  the  problem  is  wrought  out  and  answered. 
These,  Renken  says,  cannot  be  known  by  any  of  the 
bodily  senses,  eye,  ear,  or  touch,  invisible,  inaudible, 
intangible,  their  presence  and  power  can  be  known 
only  by  results.  So  the  X-rays  of  this  Book,  you 
cannot  know  their  presence  and  power  by  merely 
looking  on  the  book,  or  touching  the  book,  or  hearing 
its  contents.  Many  have  denied  its  inner  power,  be- 
cause by  their  senses  and  reason,  by  their  science  and 
philosophy,  they  could  not  discover  and  prove  it,  but 
like  these  rays,  it  can  be  known  only  by  its  effects. 
When  this  Divine  power  has  passed  through  this 
truth  into  the  soul,  and  produced  there  the  new  light 
and  life  and  shown  the  image,  divine  and  human,  never 
seen  before,  there  remains  no  more  doubt  of  this 
wondrous  and  joyous  force,  and  its  results!  But  the 
full  effect  of  this  unknown,  immeasurable  power 
cannot  be  seen  until  the  problem  is  rightly  wrought 
out  and  answered;  then  will  appear  a  work  of  perfec- 
tion, grandeur,  wonder  and  glory,  such  as  earth,  nor 
heaven,  has  ever  seen  before!  "We  shall  be  like 
Him!"  I  shall  be  satisfied  when  I  awake  with  Thy 
likeness. 

Some  claim  that  the  Renken  rays  are  a  material 
substance  streaming  through  intervening  material 
substances  and  revealing  material  si:bstances  in  or 
under  them.  I  do  not  know  that  this  is  Herr  Ren- 
ken's  opinion.  It  may  be  true,  as  they  only  come 
from  matter,  operate  on  matter  and  reveal  matter,  but 
we  know  the  X-rays  of  the  Bible  are  not  material. 
They  pour  forth  from  the  eternal  Spirit  of  life,  light 


148  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

and  power;  they  penetrate  the  soul,  which  is  not 
matter,  and  reveal  that  in  the  soul  which  is  not 
material.  These  rays  of  this  Book  are  spirit  and 
operate  upon  spirit  and  reveal  spiritual  things.  It 
is  claimed  for  the  Renken  rays  that  they  will  penetrate 
the  hardest  substances,  wood,  metal,  flesh  and  even 
bone,  and  reveal  substances  that  are  placed  under 
or  within  flesh  and  bone;  that  they  can  pass  through 
the  skull  and  show  the  brain  within.  They  may  prove 
some  persons  to  have  brains  that  were  never  blamed 
for  it  before.  It  is  expected  their  use  will  bring  great 
relief  to  human  misery  and  peril,  in  the  hands  of  the 
prudent  and  skillful  physician  and  surgeon.  And  we 
sincerely  hope  it  will  effect  more  than  all  that  has  ever 
been  claimed  for  this  new  and  remarkable  discovery. 

Yet  we  claim  for  the  X-rays  of  the  Bible  superior 
power  and  benefit  in  penetrating  the  supposed  im- 
penetrable and  bringing  relief  to  human  misery  and 
peril.  Take  the  soul,  cold  and  hard  as  iron,  or  the 
hearts  which  the  prophets  describe  as  stone  and 
adamant,  set  them  before  this  Bible  tube,  let  the 
Divine  rays  flow  on  them,  and  they  will  pass  through 
and  through  them,  unobstructed  and  unwasted.  It 
has  been  tried  with  the  petrified  hearts  of  drunkards, 
the  iron-hearted  tyrant,  the  most  fiendishly  cruel  and 
stony-hearted  heathen,  and  it  not  only  penetrated 
them,  but  melted  them,  as  fire  does  the  iron,  and  most 
wonderful  of  all,  changed  them  into  hearts  of  flesh! 
"I  will  take  away  the  stony  heart  out  of  your  flesh 
?nd  give  you  a  heart  of  flesh."  Such  persons  have 
become  gentle,  just,  kind  and  tender.  This  brought 
more  happiness  to  humanity,  relieved  more  misery  and 
peril  than  all  substances  physician  or  surgeon  can  ever 
discover  and  remove  from  human  bodies.     What  is 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  I49 

the  suffering  and  peril  of  human  bodies,  compared 
to  that  of  the  immortal  soul?  Or  the  relief  and  ease 
of  the  body  compared  to  the  relief,  rest  and  happiness 
of  the  soul?  The  power  and  capacity  of  the  soul  for 
happiness  or  misery  compared  to  the  body,  is  like 
measuring  the  orbit  of  the  sun  to  the  periphery  of  the 
Corliss  wheel,  or  the  measureless  eternity  to  a  date 
in  time!  The  Renken  rays  may  penetrate  the  cranium 
and  look  on  the  brain,  and  through  the  body  may 
show  the  fleshly  heart,  but  it  is  not  claimed  that  it  can 
read  the  thoughts  of  that  brain  or  the  emotions  and 
intents  of  the  heart.  It  stops  at  what  is  matter  and 
flesh,  and  can  reach  nothing  deeper.  But  the  rays 
that  pass  through  the  Bible  can,  as  my  text  says, 
"pierce  even  to  the  dividing  asunder  of  soul  and  spirit." 
From  these  the  man  can  see  the  difference,  the 
dividing  line  betwen  mere  intellectual  power  and 
action,  and  spiritual,  the  difference  between  mere 
mental  culture,  the  operation  and  results  of  human 
wisdom  and  training,  and  the  culture,  wisdom  and 
training  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  the  power,  influence 
and  results  of  the  spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus.  The 
difference  between  genius  and  grace;  the  source  of 
the  life,  the  power  of  the  life,  the  aim  and  end  of  the 
life  of  the  one  so  different  from  the  other.  The  en- 
during beauty  and  glory  of  the  one  so  far  above  the 
other!  No  other  rays  have  the  power  of  rightly 
dividing  soul  and  spirit,  and  revealing  the  life  that  rises 
so  joyously  and  immortally  above  the  animal,  physical 
and  intellectual  life!  The  rays  that  come  through 
this  Divine  Book  can  reveal  "the  thoughts  and  intents 
of  the  heart."  If  any  person  would  know  what  the 
thought  of  his  heart  is  towards  God  and  man,  right 
and  wrong,  sin  and  holiness,  let  him  put  himself  under 


150  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

the  direct  rays  of  Divine  truth,  and  he  can  soon  discern 
clearly     their     character.     These     rays     will     pierce 
through  all  sophistry,  hypocrisy,  apologies  and  eva- 
sions, and  he  can  read  easily  the  sincerity  or  insincerity, 
the  right  or  wrong  of  his  thoughts.     Saul  flattered 
himself  he  was  righteous,  until  before  the  gates  of 
Damascus  he  stood  beneath  these  rays;  then  he  ex- 
claimed, "I  am  carnal,  sold  under  sin;  O  wretched 
man  that  I  am !"     Job  had  thoughts  that  were  pleasing 
as  to  his  perfection,  and  God  approved  his  sincerity 
and  uprightness,  but  when  the  searchlight  of  these 
rays  fell  into  his  soul,  he  exclaimed:  "If  I  wash  my 
hands  in  snow  water,  and  make  them  never  so  clean, 
yet  Thou  wilt  plunge  me  in  the  ditch,  and  mine  own 
clothes  would  abhor  me."     David  had  perhaps  heard 
it  said  he  was  a  man  after  God's  own  heart,  but  under 
the  focus  of  these  rays  he  exclaimed :  "I  was  conceived 
in  sin  and  brought  forth  in  iniquity;  create  a  clean 
heart,  renew  a  right  spirit  within  me!"     In  the  same 
position,  Isaiah  exclaimed:  "Woe  is  me,  I  am  un- 
clean!"    There  are  no  such  rays  as  these,  that  search 
into  every  nook  and  corner  of  the  soul,  make  all 
darkness    light,    and   all    hidden   things    visible.     No 
mind-reader  like  this;  here  no  mistakes  are  made,  but 
the  most  secret  thoughts  of  the  heart  are  revealed. 
If  you  would  test  the  thoughts  of  your  fellow-men,  get 
yourself  and  them  into  the  focus  of  these  Divine  rays, 
and  they  will  shine  through  and  through    the    soul, 
and  you  can  read  the  character,  in  heart  thoughts, 
of  God  and  men,  law  and  justice,  purity  and  impurity, 
and  you  can  say  this  is  the  truth  of  this  person,  a 
correct  spiritual  photograph  that  cannot  be  mistaken. 
Let  the  business  man,  employer  and  employee,  poli- 
tician, statesman  and  ruler,  rich  and  poor,  put  them- 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  151 

selves  in  these  Divine  rays,  and  they  may  soon  know 
what    are    the  intents,  the  purposes  of  their  hearts, 
whether   to    do    right    or   wrong,    to    do   justice    or 
injustice,  purposes  of  mercy  or  wrath,  humanity  or 
inhumanity,     robbery     or     righteousness!     And     no 
screen  they  may  put  between  can  resist  their  pene- 
trating power.     They  can  shine  through  a  mountain 
pile  of  the  merchant's  goods,  through  all  the  evasions, 
lies    subterfuges  and  iron-clad  policy  of  partisan  or 
statesman,   through    all    the    gold-bags,   bonds   and 
mortgages  of  magnates  and  millionaires,  and  all  the 
obscurity  and  cunning  of  servant  or  employee!    When 
we  wish  to  test  the  hearts  of  our  fellow-men,  we  try 
to  put  them  under  the  searchlight  of  these  Divine  rays 
and  judge  their  purposes  by  this  revelation,  and  when 
the'^e  show  the  wrong  that  is  in  their  purposes,  we 
decide    this    must    be    removed  before  they  can  be 
healthy    and    trusted.     "All    things    are    naked    and 
opened"  before  the  brightness  of  this  radiance.  ^ 

There  is  one  other  analogy  I  wish  to  notice.  It 
is  said  the  Renken  rays  show  any  foreign  and  hurtful 
substance  inside  hand,  foot,  head  or  body,  and  guide 
the  hand  of  physician  or  surgeon  to  remove  it.  So 
the<^e  Bible  rays  show  the  foreign  and  hurtful  in  the 
heart  and  soul,  sinful  thoughts  and  feeling,  evil  intents 
and  purposes,  and  these  must  be  removed  for  the 
soul's  health  and  life;  and  these  Bible  rays  guide  the 
skillful,  gracious  hand  of  the  Divine  Physician  and 
Surgeon  to  remove  these  and  bring  rest,  health,  life 
and  happiness  to  the  soul  that  shall  never  fail  itl 
Let  us  rightly  recognize  honor,  and,  if  you  please, 
ennoble  the  scientific  discoverer,  but  let  us  not  forget 
or  refuse  to  honor  God,  the  author  of  beneficent  facts 
discovered,   more  than  the   discoverer.     And  let  us 


152  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

reprobate  the  conceited,  foolish  fallacy  that  any  dis- 
covery can  leave  our  Bible  an  antiquated  record  of 
ancient  ignorance  and  limitations.  Some  seem  to 
think  we  are  getting  far  ahead  of  all  Bible  knowledge 
and  wisdom,  that  this  book  is  becoming  only  a  curious 
old  tome!  What  are  the  facts?  The  pick  and  the 
spade  have  dug  up  what  have  been  called  wonderful 
discoveries  of  ancient  knowledge  and  art,  yet,  hun- 
dreds of  years  since,  the  Bible  told  us  they  were  there! 
We  pierced  the  fountains  of  oil  through  the  rock,  only 
to  find  this  book  told  us  it  was  there!  We  mine  the 
iron  and  precious  ores  of  earth,  yet  this  book  tells 
us  God  put  these  treasures  there!  We  may  be  assured 
human  science  and  discovery  will  never  overtake  and 
pass  the  book,  its  rays  will  penetrate  and  shine  along 
every  pathway  of  discovery  and  progress  through 
time.  I  believe  it  is  admitted  the  Renken  rays  cannot 
penetrate  the  clay  of  earth  and  uncover  what  is  buried 
there.  But  the  rays  of  this  Book  can  penetrate  the 
deepest  graves,  oceans  and  mausoleums  of  earth,  and 
not  only  show  the  dead  hidden  there,  but  its  vital 
quickening  power  can  awaken  them  to  a  resurrection, 
a  life  and  glory  everlasting. 

Lastly,  you  may  avoid  the  focus  and  work  of  the 
Renken  rays,  but  the  rays  of  the  Bible  in  this  land 
you  cannot  escape ;  they  fill  the  whole  atmosphere  and 
horizon  where  this  book  is  open,  as  does  the  light  of 
the  sun,  and  your  character  is  being  correctly  photo- 
graphed to  give  judgment  for  or  against  you.  If  in 
faith  you  stand  before  this  Divine  tube,  and  let  its  rays 
fall  on  your  soul,  you  can  see  God,  and  life,  and  glory  I 
"Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God," 


IX. 

The  Strength  and   Responsibilities  of  Young 

Men. 

*'I  have  written  unto  you  young  men  because  ye  are  strong,  and  the- 

word  of  God  abideth  in  yoti,  and  ye  have  overcome  the 

wicked  one,^^  I  John  ii:    14. 

Beauty  is  a  woman's  right  inheritance — beauty  of 
figure,  features,  expression,  movements,  the  beauty 
that  charms  the  eye.  But  a  beautiful  man!  The 
expression  itself  conveys  the  idea  of  a  weak,  effeminate 
dudishness  that  unfits  the  man  for  his  position  and 
work.  But,  says  Solomon,  "The  glory  of  young  men 
is  their  strength."  In  every  work,  battle  or  triumph 
of  life,  whether  material,  mental  or  moral,  strength  is 
essential.  In  the  field,  shop  or  mart,  in  the  forest 
or  on  the  sea,  in  the  city  and  in  the  country,  brain 
and  heart  and  brawn  are  all  needed.  When  our 
nation's  life  was  in  peril,  and  defenders  were  the  need, 
to  whom  did  she  write  or  call?  Not  to  children, 
spinning  their  tops  and  shooting  their  marbles  in 
the  street,  not  to  the  old  and  decrepit  in  woolen  hose 
and  slipper-shod  feet,  but  to  young  men  who  were 
strong — she  called  for  those  between  eighteen  and 
forty-five,  men  in  their  prime,  stalwart  men,  at  least 
those  with  healthful  frames,  unimpaired  minds  and' 
hopeful  hearts — earnest,  patriotic  men,  able  to  do,  to 
dare,  to  endure,  to  sacrifice,  sufler  and  die.  To  these 
the  nation  committed  the  honor  of  defending  her  life 
and  unity.  These  had  the  deepest  and  most  extensive 
interest  in  the  issue.     Old  men  were  near  their  time 


154 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


of  moving  to  another  country,  but  these,  if  spared, 
had  the  hopes  and  happiness  of  thirty  or  forty  years 
in  the  confiict;  and  in  their  children  the  interest  and 
hopes  of  a  century.  These  were  also  fitted  for  the 
battle-day.  Childhood  tenderness  was  past  and  the 
decrepitude  of  age  not  reached;  therefore  they  could 
"endure  hardness  as  good  soldiers,"  and  the  responsi- 
bilities of  the  hour,  the  heat  and  burden  of  the  day, 
the  perils  of  the  conflict,  were  laid  on  them,  and  justly 
they  gloried  in  their  strength. 

So  the  Lord  has  a  kingdom  on  earth,  its  life  and 
unity  to  be  defended,  maintained  and  extended;  He 
has  an  army  to  be  recruited,  a  battle-work  to  be  done, 
which  demands  hardness,  endurance,  sacrifice  and 
suffering,  a  conflict  to  be  waged,  a  victory  to  be  won, 
and  a  peerless  glory  to  be  gained.  To  do  and  to 
attain  all  this  He  says,  in  the  text,  "I  write  unto  you 
young  men,  because  ye  are  strong."  Strong  men  are 
the  need  of  our  land  to-day,  in  her  material  operations 
and  political  life,  in  her  social,  moral  and  religious 
life — strong  in  the  three-fold  cord  of  their  natures, 
in  every  fibre  of  their  being,  physical,  mental  and 
moral. 

First.  The  elements  of  strength. 

Second.  The  responsibilities  it  imposes. 

The  first  is  physical  or  bodily  vigor  and  health. 
The  period  of  life  called  youth  and  early  manhood 
has  natural  elements  of  strength,  in  health  of  body, 
vigor  of  mind  and  hopefulness  of  heart.  These  com- 
bined make  that  impulsive  force,  that  strength  to 
endure  and  sustain  earnest  and  continued  activity, 
which  marks  the  prime  of  manhood.  Look  at  the 
healthy  physical  man,  just  at  that  period  when  the 
roundness  and  softness  of  infancy  and  childhood  have 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  155 

left  his  limbs  and  the  stiffness  and  brittleness  of  age 
are  not  yet  reached;  every  part  is  firm  and  Uthe  and 
hardened,  the  sinews  strong  as  whip-cords,  the 
muscles  Hke  many  strands  of  steel  thread,  holding 
every  joint  in  its  place.  Sickness  has  not  yet  enfee- 
bled, passion  has  not  emasculated,  nor  sloth  and  lust 
enervated  or  poisoned  either  the  fluids  or  solids  of 
his  body;  but  the  whole  physical  man  is  compactly 
built  together  by  that  which  every  joint  supplieth,  a 
dwelling  and  workshop  for  the  immortal  soul,  a  temple 
for  the  spirit  of  the  Holy  One,  "fearfully  and  won- 
derfully made,"  in  glory  or  beauty  surpassing  any 
palace  ever  built  by  human  hands!  Such  a  physique 
is  a  luxury  and  a  precious  gift  of  God,  an  instrument 
of  exquisite  enjoyment  and  happiness. 

Without  a  goodly  measure  of  this  health  and  vigor 
no  one  can  be  a  strong  man.  Whatever  may  be  his 
mental  and  heart  power,  his  strength  is  shorn.  Take 
the  mind  of  a  Humboldt,  a  Bacon  or  Newton,  and 
the  soul  of  a  Paul,  put  them  into  a  frame  of  marrow- 
less  bones,  poisoned  fluids,  cotton  sinews  and  woolen 
muscles— if  their  spirits  did  not  tear  down  the 
wretched  fabric  they  would  become  maniacs  or  imbe- 
ciles in  such  a  tenement. 

It  is  true,  young  men,  many  a  noble  soul  has  lived 
and  labored  not  only  in  a  clay  tabernacle,  but  one  of 
pale  and  brittle  clay — occupied  a  body  that  looked 
much  like  a  frame  dwelling  which  had  been  in  the 
hands  of  an  earthquake,  that  had  drawn  every  tenon 
and  brace  from  its  mortice,  but  they  were  so  much  the 
weaker  for  this.  Therefore,  if  you  can  have  the 
strength  of  an  athlete,  the  thews  and  sinews  of  the 
Greek  agonistes,  accept  it  as  a  Divine  gift  for  enjoy- 
ment and  employment.     I  beseech  you,  don't  put  a 


156  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

poison  into  the  fluids,  or  a  cancer  into  the  bones  of 
your  physical  man!  It  is  a  violation  of  the  sixth 
commandment,  it  is  the  crime  of  suicide.  With  too 
much  truthfulness,  it  has  been  said  of  Lord  Byron, 
"He  passed  by  quick  leaps  from  boyhood  to  the  vices 
of  age;  disgust  with  existence,  and  contempt  for 
mankind  was  all  the  wisdom  he  gleaned  from  his 
excesses,  and  died  old  and  worn  out  at  thirty-six." 

Faith  and  love  are  no  less  beautiful  for  being, 
embodied  in  a  healthy,  muscular  frame. 

2d.  Another  element  of  strength  in  young  men  is 
intellectual  animation  and  vigor.  At  such  a  period  of 
life  the  mental  powers  can  grasp  with  firmness  and 
hold  with  tenacity  what  is  given  them,  as  they  cannot 
at  any  other  time  of  life.  They  may  not  have  the 
full  development  and  accuracy  in  judgment  of  riper 
years,  because  they  have  not  the  treasures  of  knowl- 
edge. But  I  do  not  nov/  speak  of  that  knowledge 
"which  is  pov/er,"  but  of  the  ability  to  acquire  knowl- 
edge; this  is  greatest  in  youth.  The  memory  has 
then  the  least  useless  lumber  and  retains  most  faith- 
fully what  is  committed  to  it.  Judgment  and  reason 
are  not  then  overburdened  and  bewildered,  but  pene- 
trating and  quick.  Conscience  then  is  not  dull  or 
hardened,  but  tender  and  true. 

Then  is  the  time  to  strike  boldly  out  into  the  fields 
of  knowledge  to  gather  treasures  for  future  wealth 
and  use.  Like  hundred-handed  Briareus,  the  intellect 
reaches  out  in  every  direction  for  treasures,  goes  into 
the  depths  of  the  earth  and  the  depths  of  the  sea, 
traverses  continents,  and,  reaching  upward,  plucks 
treasures  from  amid  the  stars.  It  has  then  courage 
to  meet  in  battle  Janus-faced  error,  a  deceitful  and 
treacherous  foe.     In  this  conflict  the   solid   shot  is 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  157 

compacted  logic,  and  the  glittering  sword  and  bayonet 
is  bright  truth  and  polished  thought.  These  are  the 
resistless  weapons  and  impenetrable  armor  with  which 
God  clothes  His  soldiers  that  do  exploits.  Young 
men,  whatever  intellectual  gifts  and  treasures  of 
Icnowledge  God  has  bestowed  upon  you,  consecrate 
and  use  them  now— this  is  the  day  of  their  strength. 

3d.  Another  element  of  youthful  strength  is  cheerful 
liopefulness  of  heart,  buoyancy  of  spirit.     Gloom,  and 
despondency,  and  doubt,  and  dread,  weaken.     Fog  is 
not  strong.     A  pithless  and  sapless  stem    is    weak. 
Take  the  sapling  whose  branches  are  leafless,  whose 
.sap  is  gone  down;  it  is  not  dead,  it  is  only  in  its  winter 
months :  bend  it  to  the  ground ;  you  may  do  it,  but  it 
will  hardly  straighten  again;  if  it  does,  it  will  rise  very 
slowly  and  uncertainly.     But  take  the  sapling  whose 
leaf  is  green,  and  every  fibre  bathed  in  vital  fluid;  bend 
it  to  the  earth,  but  no  sooner  is  your  hand  removed 
than  with  a  bound  it  is  straight  again. 

When  disease  lays  its  hand  upon  the  strong  man, 
scarcely  is  it  removed  when  he  almost  bounds  back 
to  health  and  strength  again,  and  in  a  few  weeks  you 
would  not  know  he  had  been  ill.     This  is  not  simply 
from  the  vigor  of  bone  and  muscle,  but  from  a  hope- 
fulness and  vivacity  of  life,  a  buoyancy  of  spirit,  that 
rises    above    depression.     The  crushing  tyrant  must 
strike  again  and  again  before  it  is  broken;  misfortune 
after  misfortune  may  come,  billow  may  succeed  billow, 
until  many  waters  have  gone  over  him,  before  his  soul 
will  tolerate  the  thought  of  going  under.     This  hope- 
fulness is  a  brightness,  a  beauty  and  a  glory  in  life, 
the    sunshine    and    song,  and    no    mean    element  of 
strength.     It  makes  a  man  capable  of  doing  and  dar- 
ing,  of  viewing  dif=(iculties   without   depression,   and 


158  2W£  GOLDEN  POT. 

undertaking  enterprises  of  "great  pith  and  moment."' 
Cherish  and  sustain  by  every  rational  and  needful 
means  this  genial,  sunny  hopefulness  of  heart.  When 
you  lose  this,  be  assured  decline  has  begun,  whatever 
your  age  may  be;  the  frost  has  touched  your  summer^ 
the  season  of  the  sere  and  yellow  leaf  has  come;  you 
may  have  a  few  Indian  summer  days,  but  winter  has 
set  in,  your  strength  is  frost-bitten.  Therefore,  I  say 
again,  preserve  your  cheerfulness  and  buoyancy  of 
spirit.  To  do  this,  guard  the  health  and  strength  of 
body  and  mind,  but,  above  all,  peace  and  purity  of 
conscience.  Nothing  is  such  a  cloud  upon  the  sun- 
shine of  the  soul  as  a  reproving  conscience, the  shadow 
of  guilt  that  no  day  can  dispel. 

This  brings  us  to  notice  another  element  of  strength 
which  is  mentioned  in  the  text:  the  indwelling  of 
Divine  truth,  "the  Word  of  God  abideth  in  you."  To 
all  natural  elements  of  strength  this  is  most  essential, 
"divine  truth  abiding  in  the  soul."  "The  Word  of 
God  abideth  in  you."  Many  young  men  have  all  the 
natural  constituents  of  strength,  yet  lack  this,  the 
most  potent  element,  the  most  unfailing  source  of 
power.  They  may  have  the  gigantic  muscular  man, 
and  attainments  and  gifts  of  mind  of  the  highest  order, 
yet  they  are  but  shorn  Samsons,  who  slumber  in 
the  lustful  lap  of  earth,  in  imminent  peril,  who  can  be 
safely  bound  with  the  heathen  withes,  and  new  ropes 
of  sin. 

This  Word  is  not  only  nourishment,  but  medicine, 
to  even  the  intellectual  powers.  By  it  the  memory 
is  purged  and  invigorated,  the  judgment  and  reason 
cleared  and  guided,  conscience  softened  and  purified, 
the  affections  elevated  and  refined  and  the  will  set 
free  from  the  tyranny  of  desire.     Says  our  Saviour, 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  159 

"The  words  I  speak  unto  you  are  spirit  and  life,"  and 
they  bring  spirit  and  Hfe  to  every  power  of  the  soul 
where  they  abide.  From  this  Word  alone  you  learn 
to  discern  between  right  and  wrong,  good  and  evil, 
holiness  and  unholiness.  By  this  Word  alone  you 
learn  to  know  the  living  and  the  true  God,  and  how 
He  will  be  worshipped  and  served.  By  this  only  can 
you  learn  the  name,  nature,  doings  and  glory  of  the 
Redeemer  of  guilty  men;  by  this  Word  alone  the 
offer  of  Divine  mercy  and  love  come  to  your  hearts; 
by  this  alone  Christ  Himself  comes  into  your  souls 
by  faith,  as  the  hope  of  eternal  life  and  glory.  By 
this  Word  alone  is  love  to  God  born  in  your  soul; 
through  the  instrumentality  of  this  Word  only  can 
you  be  renewed  in  the  Divine  image;  only  through 
faith  in  this  Word  can  you  overcome  the  world.  By 
this  Jesus  Christ,  while  in  our  nature  on  earth,  tri- 
umphed over  His  adversary.  To  the  great  tempter,  in 
the  wilderness,  on  the  mountain,  and  the  pinnacle 
of  the  temple,  He  answered,  "It  is  written.  Thou  shalt 
live  by  the  Word  of  God,  thou  shalt  not  tempt  the 
Lord,  and  thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord  and  Him  only 
shalt  thou  serve."  This  was  the  victorious  strength 
of  the  man  Christ  Jesus. 

Take  any  young  man,  let  the  light  of  Divine  truth 
shine  in  his  intellect,  let  its  holy  principles  abide  in 
his  heart,  and  he  may  walk  amid  all  the  meanness, 
selfishness,  avarice  and  lewdness  of  any  sin-stained 
city,  as  untainted  by  it  as  the  angels  by  the  filthiness 
of  Sodom ;  he  can  say  with  an  imperial  mandate  to  all 
the  legions  of  unclean  devils  around  him,  "Get  thee 
behind  me,  for  it  is  written,  Thou  shalt  worship  the 
Lord  and  Him  only  shalt  thou  serve." 

He  is  a  king  among  men.  in  the  truest  and  highest 


j6o  the  golden  pot. 

.sense,  wearing  a  crown  made  of  more  precious  stuff 
than  the  glittering  coronet  of  mortal  made  monarchs. 
He  is  a  king  and  priest  unto  God,  wearing  a  crown 
of  righteousness  and  a  diadem  of  glory.  He  not  only 
holds  a  rule  over  self,  but  a  sceptre  over  the  leagues 
of  Satan  on  earth  and  legions  of  devils  in  hell.  The 
strength  of  the  soul,  entrenched  by  faith  in  the  un- 
failing Word  of  God,  is  impregnable  and  unconquer- 
able. It  was  this  made  Luther  an  invincible  hero  in 
the  city  of  Worms;  it  was  this  took  the  fear  of  man 
irom  before  the  face  of  John  Knox.  It  could  be  truly 
.said,  "There  were  giants  in  those  days,"  and  this  Word 
is  the  food  that  gave  them  gigantic  stature  and 
strength.  If  you  would  be  strong,  you  must  feed 
upon  this  bread  of  heaven.  Remember,  it  must  not 
•only  be  taken  into  your  memories  and  receive  mental 
examination,  it  must  abide  in  your  souls  as  the  vital 
principle  of  your  intellectual,  moral  and  spiritual  life. 
Study  it  upon  your  knees,  search  its  depths  as  for  hid 
treasure;  let  nothing  come  between  your  heart  and 
the  unadulterated  truth  of  God.  Some  human  writ- 
ings are  certainly  good  and  helpful,  some  commen- 
taries and  works  on  theology,  expository  writings 
and  books  of  sermons  may  be  profitable,  but  the  best 
things  may  be  made  the  veriest  curses;  and  such,  I 
fear,  human  writings  have  become  in  our  Sabbath 
schools,  pulpits  and  homes.  These  galvanized  imita- 
tions are  laid  upon  the  heart,  instead  of  the  Word 
of  life,  and  like  non-conductors,  they  prevent  quick- 
ening power  from  reaching  the  conscience  and  heart. 
If  you  would  be  strong,  put  jealously  aside  everything 
that  would  come  between  your  soul  and  the  pure 
Word  of  God,  without  note  or  comment;  bind  this 
to  your  heart,  and  strong,  pure,  eternal  life  will  flow 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  i6l 

from  it  through  every  part  of  your  immortal  being. 
Faith  groweth  from  the  good  seed  of  the  Word, 
love  feedeth  upon  a  knowledge  of  Christ,  hope  rests 
upon  immutable  promises,  and  anchors  the  soul  upon 
the  infinite  merits  of  a  Divine  Redeemer.  By  faith 
in  His  Word  you  enter  into  the  refuge  of  omnipotence 
and  become  "strong  in  the  Lord  and  the  power  of  His 
might."  Says  Daniel,  "They  that  knozv  their  God 
shall  be  strong  and  do  exploits." 

Fifth.  Another  element  of  strength  mentioned  in 
the  text  is  victory  over  evil.  "Ye  have  overcome  the 
wicked  one."  Whether  by  wicked  one  here  be  meant 
Satan  personally,  or  his  wickedness  in  its  multiform 
shapes,  the  truth  is  the  same,  that  victory  over  it  is 
not  only  a  proof  of  strength,  but  a  source  of  power. 
By  every  successful  battle  the  kingdom  of  David 
grew  stronger,  and  Saul  weaker;  by  every  victory  of 
our  arms,  the  nation's  power  increased  and  rebellion 
was  enfeebled.  The  truth  is  universal,  that  the  victor 
becomes  stronger  by  every  conquest.  And  the 
earlier  in  life  sinful  self  is  subdued,  the  stronger  the 
man  will  be  all  his  remaining  days.  He  who  in  youth 
is  righted  in  his  whole  being,  putting  his  reason, 
natural  passions  and  appetites,  in  their  proper  place, 
putting  all  under  pure  and  righteous  law,  "casting 
down  imagination  and  every  high  thing  that  exalteth 
itself  against  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  bringing 
into  captivity  every  thought  to  the  obedience  of 
Christ,"  he  will  be  the  strong  man.  Why?  Because 
he  will  not  have  to  fight  himself  all  his  days,  and  can 
combine  all  his  forces  against  the  foe  in  front.  Take 
the  man  who  is  the  victim  of  an  evil  habit  for  twenty- 
five  or  thirty  years;  if  it  is  then  broken,  still  he  will 
be  comparatively  a  weak  man  ever  after,  unless  by 


1 62  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

marvellous  grace.  Take  one  who  has  for  years  been 
the  bond-slave  of  sinful  passions;  he  may  be  emanci- 
pated, but  half  his  strength  in  after  years  must  be 
used  in  fighting  the  fire  that  threatens  to  break  out 
anew.  Take  one  whose  bones  have  been  diseased 
with  envy,  or  whose  soul  has  been  hardened  in  selfish- 
ness; if  recovered  at  all,  the  greater  part  of  his  after 
life  must  be  spent  in  battling  against  these  fiends,  he 
can  do  little  else.  Not  only  is  the  strength  of  such 
divided,  but  if  combined  is  greatly  impaired  by  the 
ravages  of  old  sins.  They  are  but  wounded  soldiers 
in  the  field,  weak  and  lame  from  old  hurts. 

But  take  the  man  who  has  early  put  sinful  appetite, 
lust  and  pride  under  his  feet,  who  has  subordinated 
every  power  to  revelation  and  right  reason,  who  has 
embraced  the  life  principles  of  a  high,  pure  Christian 
manhood,  who  has  been  made  free  with  that  liberty 
"wherewith  Christ  makes  His  people  free"— rthe 
chains  have  fallen  from  his  hands,  the  fetters  arc 
broken  from  his  feet,  the  fear  of  the  slave  is  taken  from 
his  heart,  and  he  comes  forth  disenthralled  and  en- 
nobled, ready  for  work  or  warfare,  the  peer  of  angels 
and  the  terror  of  devils.  Crown  him  because  he  is 
royal,  put  stars  on  his  shoulders,  commission  him  as 
a  general,  not  because,  like  Diotrephes,  he  loveth 
pre-eminence,  but  because  he  is  fitted  to  command 
and  lead  the  battle,  for  he  has  the  prestige  of  victory, 
having  already  overcome.  No  earthly  distinction  can 
exalt  him,  for  he  now  holds  a  patent  of  nobility  with 
the  seal  of  the  Most  High  upon  it;  angels  are  only 
his  equals,  God  only  is  above  him,  and  he  is  even 
promised  a  seat  with  the  Divine  one — "he  that  over- 
cometh  shall  sit  with  Me  in  My  throne."  He  is  one 
of  those  spoken  of  by  Daniel,  who   "is  strong  and 


THE  COLDEN  POT.  163 

doing  exploits."  "He  that  hath  clean  hands,"  says 
Job,  "shall  be  stronger  and  stronger,"  he  shall  not 
only  be  strong,  but  shall  increase  in  strength. 

Other  things  being  equal,  physical  and  intellectual 
endowments  being  the  same,  the  purest  among  men 
are  the  strongest.  Try  them  in  the  presence  of  temp- 
tation, in  the  furnace  of  affliction,  wherever  true 
strength  can  be  tested,  and  they  will  prove  good  their 
title  to  heroic  power.  This  was  the  strength  of  the 
man  Christ  Jesus— when  the  tempter  came  he  had 
"'nothing  in  Him,"  nothing  of  his  own  evil  nature 
within  the  Holy  One,  to  abet  his  temptation,  or  open 
a  door  for  its  entrance.  And  in  this  respect  Christ's 
followers  become  like  Him  in  strength,  through  the 
purifying  power  of  His  Word,  and  victory  over  evil. 
"Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God," 
and,  like  Moses,  shall  be  strong  to  endure  because 
"seeing  Him  who  is  invisible." 

Young  men,  if  you  would  have  the  most  delightful 
consciousness  of  strength,  if  you  would  enjoy  a  sov- 
ereignty of  power,  if  you  would  acquire  a  royal  pre- 
eminence, you  must  overcome  evil,  not  league  with 
Satan;  there  is  no  strength  in  that;  not  compromise 
with  wrong,  that  is  weakness ;  not  compound  with  sin, 
that  is  sure  defeat.  But  overcome,  get  the  mastery, 
vanquish,  come  off  conquerors;  then  it  may  be  said 
of  you,  that  you  "are  strong,  for  the  Word  of  God 
abideth  in  you." 

Second.  The  responsibility  of  such  gifts,  the  claims 
upon  such  strength. 

Were  you  so  richly  gifted  for  any  trifling  end? 
Were  you  so  royally  endowed  for  any  ignoble  pur- 
pose? Certainly  not.  But  for  a  purpose,  end  and 
work  worthy  of  such  a  princely  coronation.     It  is  that 


1 64  THE  COLD  EN  POT. 

the  Lord  might  make  you  co-workers  with  Himself^ 
that  He  might  commit  to  you  the  God-hke  work  of 
extending  and  estabhshing  His  kingdom,  that  He 
might  put  upon  you  the  soldier  honors  of  defending 
and  maintaining  the  empire  of  His  grace  and  truth 
in  the  earth.  He  has  given  you  the  power  of  the  sons 
of  God,  that  you  may  be  able  to  bear  the  Divine 
armor,  the  shield  of  faith,  the  breastplate  of  right- 
eousness, the  helmet  of  salvation,  and  wield  with  a 
strong  arm  the  irresistible  sword  of  the  Spirit. 

As  citizens  of  no  mean  city,  you  are  called,  by 
meekness,  truthfulness,  courage  and  holiness,  to  be 
living  epistles,  that  may  be  read  by  your  fellow- 
citizens  for  their  conviction  and  conversion.  Amid 
the  guilt,  corruption  and  darkness  of  the  city  you  are 
to  walk  the  streets  as  "light  bearers,"  "holding  forth 
the  Word  of  life,"  whose  shining  shall  kindle  the  light 
of  hope  for  wretchedness  and  despair,  and  reveal  the 
way  of  life  to  the  lost  and  condemned.  Amid  the 
crimes  of  robbery,  peculation,  falsehood,  deceit, 
grinding  avarice,  and  every  evil  of  the  world,  you  are 
to  stand  as  God's  witnesses;  behind  the  counters,  in 
the  shops,  at  the  merchant's  desk,  in  public  and  ofBcial 
places,  in  every  position,  lo  testify  to  the  social,  com- 
mercial and  political  integrity  and  purity  of  Christian 
life.  By  the  power  of  the  closet,  a  power  unseen  but 
immeasurable,  by  the  power  of  young  and  strong 
hearts  in  united  prayer,  by  the  power  of  the  Sabbath 
school,  teaching  the  whole  Word  of  God,  by  the 
power  of  saving  truth  at  the  sick  bed,  by  the  power  of 
loving  rebuke  and  warning  to  the  erring,  by  the  power 
of  Christian  invitation  and  entreaty  to  the  wayward 
and  the  thoughtless,  by  every  power  that  can  tell 
against    lewdness,    intemperance,    and    all-engulfing 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  165 

infidelity,  and  in  favor  of  faith,  hope,  hoHness  and 
happiness,  you  are  to  be  co-workers  with  your  pastors 
in  extending  and  estdbHshing  Christ's  kingdom  in  this 
place  over  the  hearts,  consciences  and  lives  of  men! 

But  this  city  may  not  be  the  limit  of  your  labors. 
Duty  may  call  you  elsewhere.  Other  friends  wait 
for  you,  and  other  people  faint  and  cry  for  your  help. 
How  beautiful  and  vast  the  field  that  stretches  out 
over  the  great  valleys  and  plains  of  Kansas,  Nebraska, 
Dakota,  Colorado,  New  Mexico  and  California,  and 
spreads  out  from  the  northern  border  of  Washington 
State,  nay,  from  the  bounds  of  Alaska,  to  the  southern 
boundary  of  Texas!  They  need  you,  not  only  as 
ministers  and  teachers,  not  simply  as  men  of  letters 
and  science,  but  in  the  field  and  the  shop,  in  the  manu- 
factory and  commerce,  to  consecrate  to  holy  ends 
these  pursuits,  to  make  common  toil  honorable  and 
sacred,  to  serve  the  Lord  "diligent  in  business." 
These  unmeasured  fields,  from  Alaska  to  the  Gulf, 
God  has  opened  up  to  the  knowledge  of  the  needy, 
suffocating,  starving  millions  of  crowded  China,  India, 
and  Europe.  Here  they  are  coming,  will  come,  must 
come.  If  we  will  not  go  to  them,  God  will  bring  them 
to  us,  and  as  the  wounded  man  before  the  Levite,  cast 
them  down  before  our  faces,  and  our  Christianity  must 
heal  them  or  perish  with  them! 

Here  is  room  for  millions  of  Christian  workers, 
to  plant  here  a  beneficient  cvilization  and  the  Gospel 
of  Christ;  to  establish  and  feed  a  faith  of  such  heavenly 
origin  and  power  that  it  can  take  paganism  into  its 
arms,  as  a  mother  the  diseased  child,  not  to  catch  the 
infection,  but  to  give  it  healing  and  health.  The 
religion  of  Jesus  must  be  established  here  with  such 
•vitality,    aggressiveness    and    strength    that    it    can 


l66  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

regenerate  heathenism  and  over  all  this  rich  heritage 
inscribe,  "Holiness  to  the  Lord." 

Wherever  you  go,  in  whatever  business  engaged, 
plant  there  that  "Tree  of  Life  whose  leaves  are  for  the 
healing  of  the  nations;"  set  up  the  kingdom  of  the 
Lord  along  the  great  highways  from  the  east  to  our 
land,  and  truly  "the  kings  of  the  earth  shall  bring 
their  glory  and  honor  into  it,  and  the  nations  of  them 
that  are  saved  shall  walk  in  the  light  of  it !"  The  field 
of  arduous,  holy  toil  is  wide,  waiting  and  perishingly 
needy,  and  God  is  saying,  "I  write  unto  you,  young 
men,  because  ye  are  strong." 

And,  my  young  friends,  you  are  called  to  the  field 
at  a  period  of  almost  inspiring  activity.  A  forcible 
writer  (Riddell)  says,  "There  is  something  almost 
m.agical  in  the  appliances  and  improvements  of  this 
age.  The  rapidity  of  locomotion,  the  magnetic  vibra- 
tions of  thought  and  feeling  over  continents  and  seas, 
the  swift  ships  and  iron  nerves  that  are  bringing  the 
nations  together,  and  binding  them  as  one  great 
organic  whole,  all  mark  this  as  a  peculiar  epoch  in 
the  history  of  our  race.  Surely  God  means  we  shall 
use  these  auxiliaries  and  elements  of  power  to  do 
good."  At  this  period  a  stirring  thought  or  "word 
fitly  spoken"  may  travel  on  the  wings  of  lightning 
to  thrill  a  thousand  strong  hearts,  and  put  a  thousand 
strong  hands  in  motion;  may  wake  and  nourish  faith 
over  a  continent;  nay,  more,  may  cross  either  ocean, 
and  fall  sweetly  on  the  ear  and  heart  of  the  missionary 
in  the  wilds  of  Africa  or  among  the  valleys  and  hills 
of  the  holy  land.  This  is  an  age  of  restless  activities. 
Motion,  action,  progress,  are  now  the  words  that  fill 
the  vaulted  heaven  with  their  stirring  demands  and 
make  humanity's  heart  pulsate  with  a  stronger  bound; 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  167 

leaping,  vivifying,  exhilarating  impulses,  are  thrilling 
and  moving  the  souls  of  men.  The  old  soldier  in  the 
battle  of  life  might  almost  covet  your  position,  and 
postpone  the  rest  of  heaven,  to  share  with  you  the 
use  of  these  instrumentalities.  To  have  the  vivacity 
of  youth  and  the  strength  of  early  manhood,  and  to 
be  called  to  the  vineyard  at  such  a  period,  might  well 
be  esteemed  an  enviable  glory. 

But,  remember,  great  are  the  responsibilities  that 
rest  upon  such  gifts  and  opportunities.  In  view  of 
this,  a  writer  (Rev.  Bacon)  exclaims,  "Would  God 
I  could  make  young  Christians  know  what  results  are 
depending  on  them,  what  interests  of  the  Church  and 
a  dying  world  are  involved  in  their  future  character 
and  efforts!  When  I  look  on  the  young  Christians 
of  this  age  and  reflect  that  they  are  soon  to  sustain  the 
ancient  glories  of  the  Church  of  God;  when  I  look 
abroad  on  the  earth  and  see  the  crisis  that  is  at  hand; 
when  I  listen  to  the  cries  that  come  from  every 
quarter  of  the  world;  I  seem  to  see  the  hoary  genera- 
tions of  the  past  rising  from  their  repose  to  watch  the 
progress  of  the  young  followers  of  Christ;  I  seem  to 
hear  voices  of  blest  spirits  from  above  cheering  them 
on  in  a  career  of  piety;  I  seem  to  see  a  world  in  misery 
turning  its  imploring  hands  to  them  and  beseeching 
them  to  be  worthy  of  their  name,  their  privilege  and 
destiny;  I  seem  to  hear,  I  do  hear,  God  Himself  speak- 
ing from  heaven,  'Be  ye  faithful  unto  death  and  I  will 
give  you  a  crown  of  life!'  Faithful  to  such  endow- 
ments, privileges  and  opportunities!" 

But,  my  young  friends,  you  arc  not  called  in  a 
period  of  promising,  arduous,  glorious  labor  only,  but 
indications  are  strong  that,  before  it  closes,  yours  will 
be  an  age  of  trial  that  shall  try  men's  souls,  an  age 


l68  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

of  spiritual  commotion,  fierce  conflict  of  thought,  and, 
maybe,  even  of  battle,  agony  and  peril.  It  is  already 
begun;  the  forces  are  mustering  for  the  onset.  We 
seem  to  have  entered  upon  the  intellectual  and  spiritual 
drill  which  precedes  it,  just  as  the  soldier  before  the 
battle  hour  burnishes  his  armor,  loosens  his  sword 
in  the  scabbard  and  prepares  his  ammunition;  so  every 
young  Christian  should  make  preparation  for  days 
of  unusual  conflict.  Creeds  must  be  sifted  and  tested 
by  the  divine  touch-stone,  faith  must  grasp  with 
stronger  hold  the  eternal  promises,  the  loins  must  be 
firmly  girded  about  with  truth,  the  digging  must  be 
deep,  and  only  the  true  foundation  built  upon,  for 
neither  sand  nor  clay,  hay  nor  stubble,  gold,  silver 
nor  precious  stones,  will  endure  that  day.  Only  the 
rock  Christ  Jesus  will  remain  unmoved,  only  God's 
truth  will  abide  and  God's  faithful  ones  be  delivered. 
And  as  the  shadows  of  that  day  darken  upon  us,  does 
not  every  Christian  heart  desire  to  get  God's  children 
nearer  together,  to  close  up  the  ranks?  I  am  fully 
persuaded  that  there  is  not  a  soul  that  loves  eternal 
truth,  that  loves  dying  men,  that  loves  the  glorious 
Redeemer,  but  yearns,  v/restles  and  agonizes  to  draw 
the  soldiers  of  the  cross  closer  together  and  closer 
around  their  enthroned  Leader.  If  the  ransomed 
hosts  of  God's  elect,  the  children  of  faith,  the  followers 
of  the  Lamb,  the  one  blood-bought  Church,  could 
only,  with  the  movement  of  a  united  heart,  step  upon 
the  imperishable  platform  of  pure,  divine,  revealed, 
eternal  truth,  grasp  hands  in  love  and  join  in  holy 
vows  of  fidelity,  what  a  transporting,  what  an  enrap- 
turing sight  that  would  be!  Then,  indeed,  "terrible 
as  an  army  with  banners"  would  be  the  shout  of  her 
victorious  song! 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  169 

Yet  if  there  is  not  organic  unity,  be  assured  there 
is  a  unity  of  spirit  among  all  true  children  of  God, 
all  followers  of  the  Lamb,  and  all  the  different  regi- 
ments acknowledge  and  obey  the  one  Captain,  and, 
encouraged  by  this  and  the  Commander's  promise  of 
victory,  let  us  look  boldly  at  the  foe  in  the  field.  We 
need  not  turn  our  view  to  Europe  and  the  eastern 
world,  as  I  am  persuaded  that  the  great  valley  of 
decision  is  to  be  found  in  our  own  land.  Here  are 
to  be  decided  the  most  momentous  questions  of  time, 
the  questions  of  human  freedom  and  human  redemp- 
tion. Here  the  multitudes,  the  mixed  multitudes, 
are  gathering,  and  will  gather,  until  we  have  a  popu- 
lation of  hundreds  of  millions.  The  gates  of  paganism 
have  been  thrown  open  and  its  votaries  are  crowding 
here  to  the  very  portals  of  the  Church  of  God,  it  may 
be  to  compel  her  to  arouse  from  her  apathy.  It  can 
be  no  longer  a  cannonade  at  a  distance,  but  a  fierce 
bayonet  charge,  a  hand-to-hand  conflict,  to  decide 
the  question,  "If  the  Lord  Jesus  be  God,  follow  Him; 
if  Baal,  then  follow  him."  Shall  the  Bible,  the 
breviary,  or  the  Confucian  code — which,  guide  our 
people  through  time  to  eternity?  Shall  our  land  be 
one  of  Christian  churches,  popish  mass-houses,  or 
heathen  temples?  Shall  our  people  pray  to  the  Lord, 
to  Mary,  to  Joss,  or  the  goddess  of  reason?  These 
questions  must  be  met.  We  have  now  four  great 
councils  of  the  whiskey  ring  in  the  principal  cities 
of  the  land,  united  with  a  brewer's  congress,  imperi- 
ously demanding  protection  and  legalization  for  the 
manufacture  of  drunkenness,  pauperism  and  crime. 
We  have  infidel  associations,  in  the  name  of  liberty, 
demandingthe  abrogation  of  the  Sabbath,  and  atheism 
rejecting  God  from  national  assemblies,  and  insult- 


lyo  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

ingly  pushing  His  hand  from  the  arm  of  civil  power. 
We  have  Rome  and  infidehty  thrusting  the  Bible  out 
of  the  common  schools  and  from  the  hands  of  the 
people.  We  have  Roman  bishops  selecting  the  best 
sites  in  our  cities  and  multiplying  their  chapels  all 
along  our  frontier,  and  among  the  colored  population 
of  the  South,  she  is  educating  hundreds  of  our  sons 
and  daughters,  receiving  large  benefactions  from 
Protestants  for  their  own  use,  and  climbing  upon 
the  vantage  ground  of  political  influence,  as  a  balance 
of  power.  We  have  paganism  building  its  temples 
on  our  coast,  for  the  worship  of  devils,  and  in  our 
courts  taking  oaths  in  the  name  of  their  idols,  by  the 
sacrifice  of  chickens'  heads  and  yellow  paper.  We 
have  spiritualism  and  Mormonism  defying  social  and 
domestic  law,  and  defiling  the  home.  We  have  Nihil- 
ism and  Communism  planted  in  our  land,  and  not  only 
Europe,  but  the  United  States,  feels  the  earthquake 
throb  of  discontented  millions,  toiling  under  heavy 
burdens. 

These  are  some  of  the  Anaks  of  our  land,  and 
however  these  allies  of  the  wicked  one  may  disagree 
in  some  things,  they  will  all  agree  in  opposing  the 
kingdom  and  sovereignty  of  the  holy  God.  And  as 
we  see  them  organizing,  combining  and  consolidating 
all  their  forces  against  Christ,  and  see  the  many  tokens 
of  Divine  displeasure  in  the  world,  we  can  scarcely 
resist  the  conviction  that  the  Almighty  is  preparing 
the  great  sacrifice  of  Ezekiel's  vision,  where  "the 
feathered  fowl  and  beast  of  the  field  shall  eat  the  flesh 
of  the  mighty  and  drink  the  blood  of  the  princes  of  the 
earth,"  or,  as  John  in  Revelation  heard  the  fowls  of 
heaven  called  to  the  supper  of  the  great  God,  "to  eat 
the  flesh  of  kings  and  captains  and  mighty  men,  the 


*  THE  GOLDEN  POT.  171 

flesh  of  horse  and  rider,  of  bond  and  free,  of  small  and 
great." 

Surely  the  evidence  is  strong  that  a  day  of  conflict 
is  at  hand,  whether  the  final  battle  of  Armageddon, 
or  not;  and  the  Lord  is  saying,  "I  write  unto  you,, 
young  men,  because  ye  are  strong."  "Put  the  helmet 
of  salvation  on,  and  gird  your  loins  about  with  truth; 
add  righteousness,  and  add  the  shield  of  faith,  and  take 
the  sword  of  God.  Awake  and  watch:  the  day  is 
near,  the  great  day  of  God  Almighty  and  the  Lamb!" 

Are  you  ready?  Have  you  on  the  armor  of  God? 
Is  the  Word  of  God  abiding  in  you?  Have  you  over- 
come the  wicked  one?  Are  you  strong  in  the  Lord 
and  the  power  of  His  might?  If  ready,  then  mount 
fearlessly  the  battlements  of  the  foe  with  this  vic- 
torious song  upon  your  lips: 

"The  mighty  Lord  is  on  my  side, 
I  will  not  be  afraid; 
For  anything  that  man  can  do 
My  heart  is  not  dismayed." 

And  you  shall  come  ofif  "conquerors  and  more  than; 
conquerors  through  Him  that  loved  us." 


X. 

The  Preacher's  Theme. 

'■^They  ceased  not  to  teach  and  preach  Jesus  Christ,'^  Acts  v:  42. 

In  the  preceding  chapter  the  apostles  were  for- 
bidden to  speak  at  all  this  name.  They  replied,  "We 
cannot  but  speak  the  things  we  have  seen  and  heard." 
These  things  they  had  seen  and  heard  were  all  ex- 
pressed in  preaching  Jesus  Christ,  therefore,  "they 
ceased  not  to  teach  and  preach  Jesus  Christ."  This 
is  or  should  be  the  minister's  first,  constant,  central, 
all-absorbing,  all-comprehensive  theme,  Jesus  Christ. 
But  one  exclaims,  "What  a  narrow  theme!  A  single 
individual!  It  must  soon  become  trite,  worn  thread- 
bare, uninteresting,  if  not  stale  and  barren!"  But  the 
history  of  the  race  disproves  the  assertion,  for  this 
is  one  of  the  first  themes  that  engaged  the  tongue  of 
man,  and  its  voice  has  never  been  silent  through  the 
.six  thousand  years  of  the  world's  travail  in  guilt  and 
misery.  It  was  the  theme  of  Enoch  and  Noah, 
preachers  of  righteousness  before  the  flood,  the  theme 
of  earth's  wisest  legislator,  and  of  gifted  seers  and 
inspired  prophets,  of  apostles,  both  illiterate  and 
learned.  And  all  along  the  line  of  succeeding  teachers 
it  has  engaged  as  large  a  share  of  the  cultured,  gigantic 
minds  of  the  race  as  any  theme  that  was  ever  presented 
to  man.  And  to-day  it  employs  not  only  the  earnest 
simplicity  of  the  moderately  gifted,  but  some  of  the 
most  learned,  philosophical,  scientific  and  mighty 
intellects  of  earth.  And  it  chains  the  ear  and  touches 
the  heart  of  millions  of  the  noblest  and  humblest,  the 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  1 75 

wisest  and  best,  the  happiest  and  most  miserable  of 
the  human  race.  Here  philosophy  can  worthily  and 
honorably  employ  her  profoundest  researches,  science 
may  well  expend  her  richest  treasures  in  crowning 
this  theme,  literature  may  rightly  employ  all  her 
gathered  wealth  in  presenting  and  illustrating  this 
theme;  everything  the  human  mind  possesses  or  can 
attain  may  be,  and  should  be,  made  tributary  to  this. 
The  theme  is  more  than  worthy  of  it  all,  Jesus  Christ,, 
in  the  divine  excellency  of  His  person  and  the  wonders 
of  His  incarnation;  in  the  infinite  value  of  His  atone- 
ment and  the  sovereignty  and  matchless  tenderness 
of  His  love;  in  the  justice  and  purity  of  His  law  and 
the  equity  and  power  of  His  administration;  in  the 
awful  grandeur  of  His  judgment  coming  and  the 
unutterable  glory  of  His  eternal  reign,  the  grandest, 
most  comprehensive,  soul-stirring  and  profitable 
theme  that  ever  claimed  the  tongue  or  ear  of  man. 
No  finite  mind,  without  Divine  influence,  is  fit  to 
preach  Him,  nor  without  Divine  influence  is  any 
human  heart  capable  of  rightly  receiving  Him.  May 
the  Spirit  reveal  Him  to  both  speaker  and  hearers  in 
His  unfailing  fulness.  What  are  some  things  com- 
prehended in  this  theme?  What  is  it  to  preach  Jesus 
Christ? 

It  is  to  teach  and  present  Him  in  His  personal 
character.  His  two  distinct  natures,  in  His  Divine 
humanity.  Isaiah  thus  preached  Him  as  "the  mighty 
God,  the  everlasting  Father,"  also  the  "child  born, 
the  Son  given,"  "a  Man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted 
with  grief.  Paul  and  Jude  thus  preached  Him,  "The 
King  eternal,  immortal,  invisible,  the  only  wise  God 
and  our  Saviour,"  "God  manifest  in  the  flesh,"  and 
"the    man    Christ    Jesus."     He  who  does  not  thus 


174 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


preach  Christ  presents  some  other  being  than  the 
sent  one  of  God,  the  Redeemer  of  men.  He  must  be 
God  to  give  the  power  of  endurance  to  the  humanity 
of  a  suffering  Saviour;  He  must  be  God  to  give  Divine 
acceptance  and  infinite  value  to  His  sacrifice;  He  must 
be  God  to  save  forgiven  sinners  from  idolatry.  It 
is  idolatry  to  worship  any  other  being  than  the  true 
and  very  God,  yet  if  Jesus  be  not  Divine  there  is  no 
power,  finite  nor  infinite,  can  hold  redeemed  man  back 
from  idolatry.  A  pardoned,  blood-bought  sinner 
cannot  but  truly  worship  and  adore  such  a  being  as 
Jesus  Christ,  who,  through  His  own  death,  wrought 
such  a  salvation  for  Him.  You  might  as  well  tell  the 
sun  not  to  shine  or  the  bursting  clouds  not  to  drop 
their  fulness,  as  to  tell  the  forgiven,  saved,  rejoicing 
dinner  not  to  worship  and  praise  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
He  cannot  help  it.  You  must  plunge  him  again  into 
unbelief  and  sin,  you  must  again  destroy  his  spiritual 
life,  before  you  can  stop  his  song  or  silence  his  prayers. 

For  the  same  reason  He  must  be  God  that  He  may 
be  supremely  loved.  It  is  a  sin,  a  robbery,  a  dethron- 
ing of  God  to  set  any  other  being  in  the  highest  place, 
in  the  royal  seat  of  the  heart,  to  love  supremely  any 
other  being  than  the  Divine  One.  Yet  the  redeemed 
cannot  but  give  their  strongest,  purest  love  to  such 
a  Redeemer  as  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  this  He  claims 
and  God  Himself  cannot  forbid  it. 

He  must  be  God  that  He  may  be  ever  present  with 
all  His  children  everywhere,  to  strengthen  them, 
comfort,  restrain,  correct,  guide,  protect  and  deliver 
them;  He  who  is  not  divine  is  unfit  to  be  a  Saviour 
for  guilty  man.  He  must  be  God  that  He  may  judge, 
acquit  and  crown  them.  He  must  also  be  human,  a 
man,  a  creature,  that  He  may  be  made  subject  to  law 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  175 

xind  law-penalties.  He  must  be  human  that  He  may 
take  the  sinner's  place  of  peril  and  death;  that  He 
may  make  His  soul  an  offering  and  in  His  own  body 
nail  our  sins  to  the  tree.  He  must  be  a  man,  that 
He  may  be  tempted  in  all  points  as  we  are;  yet  con- 
quer the  tempter,  that  He  may  succor  those  who  are 
tempted.  He  must  be  a  man  touched  with  a  feeling 
of  human  intirmities  and  sympathizmg  with  human 
trials  and  afHictions.  He  must  be  a  man  that  He 
may  so  reveal  God  that  Ijlind  men  feeling  after  may 
iind  the  Invisible  One. 

As  He  must  be  preached  in  the  reality  and  sufiici- 
ency  of  His  Godhead,  so  He  must  be  preached  in 
the  perfection  and  fitness  of  His  manhood.  Without 
this  He  is  not  a  complete  Christ  nor  fully  preached. 
This  precious  doctrine  of  the  divine  hvmianity  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  foundation  stone  of  the  whole  superstruc- 
ture of  our  salvation,  without  which  you  can  build  no 
ark  of  safety  for  guilty  man — without  which  you  can 
rear  no  temple  of  worship  for  His  followers.  You 
•can  ask  for  no  more  interesting  theme  than  is  given 
you  in  Christ.  When  men  talk  about  earthly  kings, 
rulers  of  mighty  empires,  crowned  potentates  and 
fitting  intellect  and  learning,  and  worthy  of  being 
heard,  but  we  preach  Jesus  Christ,  "The  blessed  and 
only  potentate.  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords,  who 
only  hath  immortality,  dwelling  in  the  light  which  no 
man  can  approach  unto,"  the  self-existent  and  inde- 
pendent Creator  of  all  created  things,  "far  above  all 
principality,  power,  might  and  dominion;  above  every 
name  that  is  named  not  only  in  this  world,  but  that 
also  which  is  to  come;"  the  absolute  and  rightful 
Sovereign  of  the  universe,  whom  "the  heaven,  even 
the  heaven  of  heavens,  cannot  contain."     And  is  this 


1^6  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

subject  not  more  than  worthy  of  the  highest  powers 
of  the  teacher,  and  worthy  of  being  heard  before  any 
other  that  can  claim  the  ear  or  the  heart  of  man? 
When  men  tell  of  mighty  wonders  they  expect  to  be 
heard  because  of  their  subject,  but  we  tell  of  wonders 
upon  which  angels  gazed  with  astonishment,  the  world 
doubted  and  rejected,  and  even  God's  chosen  people 
so  staggered  in  unbelief  at  the  hearing  of  it  that  the 
prophet  exclaimed  in  anguish,  "Who  hath  believed 
our  report?"  The  most  marvellous  thing  in  all  the 
annals  of  time  we  preach  and  perhaps  most  marvellous 
in  all  the  annals  of  eternity — that  the  Ancient  of  Days 
became  the  infant  of  days!  that  the  fulness  of  im- 
mensity was  wrapped  in  swaddling  bands  and  laid  in  a 
manger!  that  omnipotence  was  folded  in  the  arms  of 
helplessness!  We  tell  of  the  illimitable  One  occupy- 
ing a  local  habitation  and  becoming  a  subject  citizen 
of  Judea;  we  tell  of  the  Holy  One  clothing  Himself 
in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh,  the  Son  of  God  becoming 
the  Son  of  man,  deity  marrying  humanity,  so  that  they 
are  no  more  twain  but  one  person  forever!  We  tell 
of  the  Lord  of  heaven  choosing  a  bride  from  earth, 
that  He  may  make  her  His  princess  and  queen,  be- 
coming her  husband,  that  she  may  share  His  throne 
and  glory!  We  tell  of  the  guilty  pardoned,  restored, 
promoted  and  crowned,  yet  law,  justice,  holiness  and 
truth  vindicated  and  magnified ;  we  tell  of  two  natures 
and  three  ofifices  in  one  person,  a  bleeding  sacrifice,  a 
sanctifying  altar  and  an  officiating  priest  all  in  onef 
We  tell  of  Jesus  bowing  the  heavens  and  lifting  up 
the  earth  to  meet  them!  In  Christ,  indeed,  is  dis- 
played the  wonder  of  wonders  in  the  universe;  there- 
fore Paul  exclaims,  "Without  controversy  great  is  the 
mystery  of  godliness.     God  was  manifest  in  the  flesh. 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  lyy 

justified  in  Spirit,  seen  of  angels,  preached  unto  the 
Gentiles,  believed  on  in  the  world,  received  up  into 
glory!" 

If  wonders  are  worthy  of  attention,  why  should 
not  this  theme  claim  the  deepest  interest  and  profound- 
est  thought  of  the  immortal  soul? 

2d.  To  preach  Jesus  Christ  is  to  teach  and  present 
Him  in  His  substitution  and  atoning  sacrifice.  Isaiah 
thus  preached  Him,  "He  was  wounded  for  our  trans- 
gressions, bruised  for  our  iniquities,"  "the  Lord  laid 
on  Him  the  iniquities  of  us  all."  Paul  thus  preached 
Him,  "He  was  delivered  for  our  offences,  that  we 
might  obtain  salvation  by  Jesus  Christ,  who  died  for 
us."  Peter,  Jude  and  John  so  preached  Him.  He 
who  would  release  the  prisoner  and  at  the  same  time 
condemn  his  guilt  and  vindicate  law  and  justice,  must 
take  the  prisoner's  place.  He  who  would  save  a 
criminal  in  harmony  with  righteousness  and  holiness, 
himself  must  assume  the  guilt  of  the  guilty,  take  his 
position  at  the  bar,  take  his  law-place,  stand  at  the 
judgment  seat  in  his  stead,  receive  his  sentence  and 
endure  his  penalty.  So  Jesus  must  be  preached  as 
"bearing  the  iniquities  of  us  all,"  standing  in  our  law- 
place,  answering  to  our  summons,  standing  at  God's 
judgment  bar  in  the  sinner's  stead  and  enduring  the 
wrath  and  death  due  the  sinner. 

Jesus  is  to  be  exhibited  in  the  ministry  as  condemn- 
ing sin  by  nailing  it  to  His  cross;  exalting  holiness, 
vindicating  justice,  magnifying  law,  confirming  the 
judgment  of  truth  and  most  gloriously  displaying 
mercy  and  love  in  His  voluntary  death  in  the  sinner's 
stead!  Jesus  is  to  be  preached  as  thus  procuring  full, 
free,  everlasting  pardon  and  complete  salvation  for 
guilty  men.     Thus  preached  as  the  tender,  willing, 


178  ■■         THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

gracious,  loving  Redeemer,  the  all-sufficient,  only- 
Saviour  of  sinners.  Ke  is  to  be  thus  presented  to 
dying,  condemned  men,  as  their  only  hope,  their  only 
ransom,  the  only  possible  way  of  salvation,  and  the 
sure,  never  failing  way  of  life  and  happiness  for  all 
who  receive  Him.  He  must  be  preached  as  righteous- 
ness for  the  unrighteous,  as  pardon  for  the  guilty,  as 
hope  for  the  wretched,  as  happiness  for  the  miserable, 
as  the  advocate  and  intercessor  for  the  criminal  at  the 
bar.  He  must  be  preached  as  riches  for  the  poor, 
clothing  for  the  naked,  bread  for  the  hungry  and  water 
for  the  thirsty.  He  must  be  preached  as  a  refuge  for 
the  oppressed,  comfort  to  the  afflicted,  strength  for 
the  weak,  life  for  the  dead  and  glory  for  the  risen. 
He  must  be  preached  as  having  a  fulness  that  supplies 
all  the  wants  of  man  for  time  and  eternity.  He  who 
does  not  thus  preach  Jesus  Christ,  constantly,  plainly, 
fervently,  affectionately,  plucks  the  heart  out  of  the 
Gospel  and  leaves  it  a  cold  carcass,  a  lifeless  corpse, 
puts  out  its  light,  darkens  all  its  glory  and  robs  the 
perishing  world  of  all  hope  and  joy.  He  preaches 
another  Gospel  which  angels  dare  not  do,  and  falls 
under  the  execration  called  down  by  the  apostle  Paul, 
"Though  we,  or  an  angel  from  heaven,  preach  any 
other  Gospel  unto  you  than  that  ye  have  received,  let 
him  be  accursed." 

3d.  Jesus  Christ  is  to  be  preached  as  the  law-giver 
and  administrator  of  law  on  the  earth.  Jeremiah,  i: 
10,  thus  preached  Christ  when  he  said,  "See,  I  have 
this  day  set  Thee  over  the  nations  and  over  the  king- 
doms, to  root  out,  and  to  pull  down,  and  to  destroy, 
and  to  throw  down,  and  to  build,  and  to  plant." 
Isaiah,  Ix:  12,  thus  preached  Him,  "The  nation  and 
kingdom  that  will  not  serve  Thee  shall  perish,  yea. 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  179 

those  nations  shall  be  utterly  wasted."  The  Psalmist, 
xxii:  28,  thus  preached  Him  when  he  said,  'The  king- 
dom is  the  Lord's,  and  He  is  governor  among  the 
nations."  Second  Psalm,  "Now,  kings,  be  wise  and 
kiss  the  Son."  John  the  Baptist  thus  preached  Him 
-when  he  gave  law  to  the  Roman  soldiers  and  rebuked 
Herod,  condemning  his  incest.  Paul  thus  preached 
Him  when  he  said,  i  Timothy  i:  9,  "The  law  is  for 
the  lawless  and  disobedient,  ungodly  and  sinners,  un- 
holy and  profane,  man-slayers,  man-stealers,  liars, 
perjured  persons  and  any  other  thing  contrary  to 
sound  doctrine."  And  when  Paul  demands  subjection 
to  the  powers  that  be  as  the  ordinance  and  ministers  of 
God,  he  preaches  Christ  as  law-giver  and  adminis- 
trator of  law  on  earth.  King  Jesus  has  enacted  laws 
for  all  His  creatures,  laws  to  guide  and  restrain  and 
bind  all  intelligent  beings  in  His  dominions.  And 
he  fails  to  preach  Jesus  Christ  who  does  not  preach 
His  law,  applying  it  to  all  the  conduct  of  men.  He 
puts  the  Redeemer  out  of  His  kingly  ofifice,  unscepters, 
uncrowns  and  dethrones  Him. 

His  law  is  to  control  men  in  all  the  relations,  cir- 
cumstances, positions  and  duties  of  life.  It  is  to  guide 
maid  and  mother  in  the  kitchen,  the  family  circle, 
the  parlor  and  social  life ;  it  is  to  guide  man  as  brother, 
friend,  father,  husband  and  citizen,  as  legislator  and 
Tuler;  it  is  to  guide  his  conduct  on  his  farm,  in  his 
counting  house,  on  the  wharf,  in  his  politics  and  his 
office.  A  man  cannot  go  where  this  law  does  not 
reach  him,  he  can  engage  in  nothing  that  this  law 
does  not  either  approve  or  condemn  him;  he  can  find 
no  place  where  this  law  does  not  guide,  restrain  or 
iDind.  It  is  illimitable  as  God's  empire,  omnipotent 
as  His  hand,  and  searching  as  His  eye.     It  has  its  seat 


l8o  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

and  source  in  the  Divine  bosom  and  its  outreach  over 
all  intelligent  creation.  They  who  flout  at  the  "higher 
law,"  the  law  of  Jesus  Christ,  scoff  at  the  throne  of 
Jehovah.  They  who  would  drive  Christ's  law  from 
Wall  Street  and  the  wharf,  from  the  board  of  trade, 
the  real  estate  and  broker's  ofBce,  forget  that  He 
overturned  the  tables  of  the  money  changers  and 
stands  by  while  the  rich  cast  their  gifts  into  the  trea- 
sury. They  who  disregard  Christ's  law  in  their  politi- 
cal relations  and  actions,  deny  that  He  is  the  Prince 
of  the  kings  of  the  earth.  And  that  minister  is  not 
faithful  to  Jesus  Christ  who  does  not  preach  His  law 
against  all  the  sins  of  men  in  every  duty,  against  all 
the  unrighteousness  of  government  and  all  the  evils 
of  society.  Toward  His  redeemed  people  Christ  holds 
the  law  in  His  hands  as  mediator — it  is  not  to  them 
a  binding  and  condemning  power;  it  is  only  a  guide 
in  life  and  a  standard  of  holiness  for  His  children. 

But  Christ  is  not  only  legislator,  but  also  adminis- 
trator of  law.  Seated  upon  a  glorious  high  throne  of 
universal  sovereignty,  He  administers  law  over  all 
nations  and  peoples,  over  all  kings,  potentates,  princi- 
palities and  powers  on  earth.  He  is  head  over  all 
things  for  the  Church;  for  her  sake  time  is  prolonged 
and  the  old  and  hoary  earth  has  being;  for  her  sake 
suns  rise  and  set,  moons  full  and  wane,  and  planets 
keep  their  orbits;  for  her  sake  thrones  are  set  up  and 
pulled  down,  kings  are  crowned  and  uncrowned. 
The  annals  of  time  are  but  the  annals  of  Jesus'  reign. 
History,  sacred  or  profane,  is  but  the  unconscious 
recorder  for  His  administration,  whether  its  pages  are 
blotted  with  blood  or  sweet  with  songs  of  peace. 
When  iniquity  has  risen  to  a  flood  tide,  then  He  has 
lifted  the  standard  of  war,  called  the  sword  from  its 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  i8l 

scabbard  and  given  it  a  commission  to  slay.  The 
royal  iron-rimmed  chariots  of  war  He  has  dashed 
together  and  broken  in  pieces,  covering  lands  with 
their  slain,  with  the  shattered  implements  of  death  and 
all  the  debris  of  the  battle  field.  Beneath  cities  as 
great  in  crime  as  grandeur  He  has  exploded  mines 
and  buried  them  from  sight.  He  has  shaken  the 
guilty  world  until  her  thrones  have  crumbled  in  the 
dust,  and  her  princes,  pallid  with  fear,  have  fainted  at 
His  presence.  He  has  sent  famine,  pestilence,  flood, 
desolation  and  death,  and  made  crowded  lands  a 
desert.  In  all  these  ways  He  has  executed  law  on 
the  earth.  Then  when  He  would  give  earth  a  rest 
and  comfort  His  Church,  He  has  broken  the  bow, 
cut  the  spear  and  burned  the  chariot  in  the  fire;  He 
has  stilled  the  tumult  of  the  people,  calmed  the  waves 
and  hushed  the  storms  into  peace. 

He  who  fails  to  preach  Jesus  Christ  in  the  equity 
and  power  of  His  administration  over  the  human  race, 
hides  one  of  the  most  glorious  exhibitions  of  His 
"kingly  majesty  and  robs  His  children  of  one  of  the 
sweetest  consolations  of  His  kingdom  and  sovereignty. 
Show  them  Jesus  Christ  holding  the  world  in  His  hand 
for  their  sakes,  setting  up  and  throwing  down,  making 
war  and  making  peace  for  their  sakes — then  they  can 
sing,  "Alleluia,  for  the  Lord  God  omnipotent 
reigneth!" 

4th.  Jesus  Christ  is  to  be  preached  in  His  judgment 
coming,  and  the  unutterable  glory  of  His  eternal  reign. 
Daniel  thus  preached  Christ,  vii:  9,  10  and  14:  "I 
"beheld  till  the  thrones  were  cast  down  and  the  Ancient 
of  Days  did  sit,  whose  garment  was  white  as  snow 
and  the  hair  of  his  head  like  the  pure  wool ;  His  throne 
was  like  the  fiery  flam.e  and  His  wheels  a  burning  fire. 


l82  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

A  fiery  stream  issued  and  came  forth  from  before  Him; 
thousand  thousands  ministered  unto  Him,  and  ten 
thousand  times  ten  thousand  stood  before  Him;  the 
judgment  was  set  and  the  books  were  opened.  And 
there  was  given  Him  dominion  and  glory  and  a  king- 
dom that  all  people,  nations  and  languages  should 
serve  Him;  His  dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion, 
which  shall  not  pass  away,  and  His  kingdom  that 
which  shall  not  be  destroyed."  The  Psalmist,  1:  3,  4, 
thus  preached  Him,  "Our  God  shall  surely  come  and 
shall  not  keep  silence.  He  shall  call  to  the  heavens 
from  above  and  to  the  earth  that  He  may  judge  His 
people."  Paul  thus  preached  Him,  Thessalonians 
iv:  16,  "For  the  Lord  Himself  shall  descend  from 
heaven  with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  the  archangel 
and  with  the  trump  of  God."  Peter,  2  Peter  iii:  12,. 
exhorts  Christians  "to  be  looking  for  and  hasting  unto 
the  coming  of  the  day  of  God."  The  beloved  John 
thus  preached  Him,  Rev.  i:  7,  "Behold,  He  cometh 
with  clouds,  and  every  eye  shall  see  Him,  they  also 
that  pierced  Him,  and  all  kindreds  of  the  earth  shall 
wail  because  of  Him." 

Once  He  came  in  infant  weakness  and  the  infirmities 
of  sinful  flesh,  came  to  be  tempted,  tried,  rejected, 
despised,  scorned,  persecuted,  scourged  and  crucified; 
came  to  walk  through  the  fiery  furnace  of  Divine 
wrath  and  hide  Plimself  in  the  grave.  But  He  shall 
come  again,  "without  sin  unto  salvation  and  to  be 
admired  of  all  them  that  believe."  He  shall  come  with 
ten  thousands  of  His  saints,  with  all  His  holy  angels 
and  the  full  glory  of  His  Godhead.  The  scornful 
world  will  greet  Him  with  wailings  in  that  day,  for 
then  shall  the  wicked  and  unbelieving  be  consumed  as 
the  stubble  and  chaff  of  the  summer  threshing  floor. 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  183 

for  "the  heavens  shall  be  rolled  together  as  a  scroll, 
and  pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements 
shall  melt  with  fervent  heat,  and  the  earth  also  and 
the  works  that  are  therein  shall  be  burned  up;"  for 
with  conflagration  fires  will  He  purge  this  polluted 
world.  Then  shall  He  set  up  His  great  white  throne, 
and,  seated  thereon  as  the  Son  of  man.  He  shall  assem- 
ble all  the  inhabitants  of  earth  before  Him  in  judg- 
ment. The  wicked,  unbelieving  and  condemned  He 
shall  drive  forever  from  His  presence,  and  shall  gather 
crowned  believers  in  glory  around  His  throne.  Then 
shall  begin  the  indescribable  grandeur  of  His  eternal 
reign.  Then  shall  the  sun  be  quenched,  the  moon 
shall  wane  to  full  no  more,  and  the  stars  shall  fade 
out  forever,  because  the  glory  of  God  and  the  Lamb, 
the  ineffable  splendor  of  the  enthroned  Redeemer,  shall 
make  beautiful  and  endless  day  in  that  holy  world. 
And  His  redeemed  shall  walk  the  golden  streets  of 
that  New  Jerusalem  with  songs  and  everlasting  joy 
upon  their  heads;  they  shall  rest  beneath  the  shade  and 
eat  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  life  and  bathe  in  the  blissful 
tide  of  the  river  of  peace.  This  shall  be  the  consum- 
mation of  that  great  salvation,  which  began  in  the 
manger,  triumphed  on  Calvary  and  brought  immortal 
life  out  of  the  sepulchre.  And  to  preach  this  salvation 
is  to  preach  Jesus  Christ. 

This  is  but  a  very  weak  and  unworthy  attempt  to 
present  this  great  subject,  it  is  only  a  faint,  almost 
imperceptible  shadow  of  this  glorious  theme.  This 
theme,  which  runs  through  all  the  momentous  events 
of  time,  from  its  dawn  to  its  consummation,  deep  and 
broad  enough  to  demand  the  profoundest  thought 
and  outreach  of  the  human  intellect,  and  more  than 
worthy  of  being  illustrated  by  all  the  research  and 


l84  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

treasures  of  human  learning.  Philosophers  and  sages 
are  honored  in  being  permitted  to  study  and  teach 
it,  and  yet  its  most  precious  things  are  so  plain  that 
the  simplest  may  get  a  profitable  and  comforting  un- 
derstanding of  it. 

Such,  my  hearers,  is,  I  think,  the  preacher's  theme, 
the  grandest,  profoundest,  most  comprehensive  and 
precious;  it  is  the  fullest  of  sweetness  that  ever  fell 
from  the  tongue  or  entered  into  the  ear  of  man;  it  is 
strongest  in  consolation  that  ever  spoke  to  the  heart 
of  wretchedness;  it  is  wonderful  and  interesting 
enough  to  engage  the  attention  of  angels,  much  more 
any  inhabitants  of  this  poor,  fallen  world.  Our 
preaching  is  designed  to  glorify  God;  to  do  this  its 
subject  must  be  Jesus  Christ.  "He  is  the  brightness 
of  the  Father's  glory,  and  the  express  image  of  His 
person."  The  light  of  the  glory  of  God  shines  in  the 
face  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  may  preach  philosophy 
and  praise  and  honor  men,  we  may  teach  literature 
and  science  and  display  eloquence,  culture  and  learn- 
ing and  please  men,  but  we  will  not  thus  glorify  God. 
In  the  wonderful  powers  and  attainments  of  the  human 
mind  and  in  all  the  manifold  works  of  creation  and 
providence,  there  is  only  a  shadowed  brightness,  but 
a  faint  gleam  of  Divine  glory,  but  in  the  Gospel  it 
shines  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,  it  breaks  forth  into 
noon-tide  splendor,  beauty  and  power,  and  He  must 
be  preached  that  God  may  be  glorified  in  all  His 
perfections,  that  justice,  holiness  and  truth  may  be 
joined  with  mercy  and  love,  in  the  salvation  of  men. 

Again,  the  ministry  is  designed  to  save  men.  To  do 
this  we  must  preach  Jesus  Christ.  He  is  "the  power 
of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God  for  salvation  to  them 
that  believe."     "There  is  no  other  name  g-iven  under 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  185 

heaven  whereby  we  must  be  saved."     To  do  this  Paul 

determined  to  know  nothing  among  sinners  but  "Jesus 

Christ  and  Him  crucified."     Remember,  we  are  not 

simply  to  civilize  and  reform  men,  or  to  educate  and 

refine  men — this  the  Gospel  will  also  do— but  we  are 

to  be  especially  instrumental  in  saving  men  from  sin 

and  wrath  and  misery  and  this  can  be  done  only  by 

preaching  Jesus  Christ.     It  is  God's  appointed  and 

commanded  way,  and  however    foolish    it    may    be 

esteemed  by  men,  it  is  infinitely  wise  and  the  only  way. 

"We  may  employ  with  burning  zeal,  unwearied  energy 

and  restless  activity  any  device  of  man,  every  other 

possible  scheme,  but  whenever  the  clear,  plain,  full 

preaching  of  Jesus  Christ  ceases,  then  the  conversion 

and  salvation  of  men  will  stop. 

Thea,  if  the  minister  would  honor  the  most  shining 
gifts  God  has  bestowed  upon  him,  he  must  usefully 
employ  every  intellectual  power,  his  most  valued 
attainmetts  and  learning,  and  let  him  cease  not  to 
teach  and  to  preach  Jesus  Christ.  If  he  would  save 
men  from  sin,  misery  and  perdition,  and  most  richly 
bless  a  wret';hed  world,  let  him  cease  not  to  teach  and 
preach  Jesus  Christ.  He  can  in  no  other  way  so  truly 
honor  himseliand  benefit  his  race  as  in  faithfully  and 
fearlessly  teacung  and  preaching  Jesus  Christ.  To 
teach  men  the  >urest  principles  and  profoundest  wis- 
dom of  philosopjy  is  nothing  to  this;  to  uncover  the 
most  useful  and  precious  secrets  of  science  is  not  to 
be  compared  to  tlis.  He  may  gather  the  choicest 
garlands  of  literature  and  twine  them  on  the  brows 
of  men,  he  may  show  Uiem  the  treasures  and  wonders 
of  a  buried  world,  he  ma>  reveal  to  them  the  magnitude 
and  glory  of  the  stars,  nut  it  is  inexpressibly  more 
honored  and  blessed  to  repeal  to  them  the  grace  and 
glory  of  Jesus  Christ. 


\ 


1 86  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

And  when  the  Father  who  sent  Him  and  the  Spirit 
who  reveals  Him  in  the  soul  shall  endue  his  ministry 
with  power  to  preach  Christ  fully,  faithfully,  affection- 
ately and  fearlessly,  then  will  the  world  believe  he  is 
the  sent  one  of  God. 

My  hearers,  we  all  have  Christ  presented  to  us  in 
His  Divine  humanity  as  a  suitable  Saviour,  presented 
as  a  substitute  and  atoning  sacrifice  in  our  stead;  if 
we  will  accept  and  trust  Him  as  a  Saviour,  our  onlf 
Saviour,  take  His  holy  law  as  our  rule  and  guide  in 
life,  honor  and  obey  Him  as  our  Redeemer  and  King — 
then  with  hope  and  joy  we  may  wait  His  judgment- 
coming  and  enter  fully  and  forever  into  His  everlasting 
kingdom  and  glory. 


XI. 
Our  King. 

''The  Lord  is  our  King;'  Isaiah  xxxiii:  22. 

We  are  republicans,  yet  acknowledge  a  king — 
subjects,  willing  and  loyal  subjects  of  a  republican 
government.  The  most  obedient  subjects  of  this  King 
are  the  best  citizens  of  a  republic.  No  tyrants  have 
ever  been  more  fickle,  unjust,  cruel  and  oppressive 
than  that  tyrant  king,  the  majority,  yet  we  prefer  a 
republic,  believing  it  possible,  by  intelligence  and 
Christian  virtue,  to  make  it  the  best  human  govern- 
ment on  earth.  It  is  true  that  kings  have  gambled 
with  the  liberties  of  mankind  for  nearly  six  thousand 
years,  robbed  their  subjects  and  reddened  earth  with 
slaughter;  yet  if  kings  could  only  be  always  sufficiently 
wise  and  immutably  just  and  good,  this  would  be 
the  most  ancient,  origmal  and  best  form  of  government 
for  mankind.  And  such  a  king  we  have.  While  we 
are  citizens  of  a  republic,  we  are  also  subjects  of^  a 
King  and  kingdom  before  and  above  our  republic, 
for  "the  Lord  is  our  King."  "Our  King"  is  a  Divine 
man.  One  who  has  joined  Divine  wisdom,  goodness, 
justice  and  power  to  manhood,  and  in  this  two-fold 
nature  has  become  our  King,  as  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

First.  Birth  of  "our  King."  Our  King  was  born 
in  Bethlehem  of  Judea,  nearly  nineteen  hundred  years 
ago.  His  mother's  name  was  Mary,  a  peasant  woman 
of  the  despised  little  village  of  Nazareth.  His  family 
worked  at  the  carpenter's  trade  and  earned  their  daily- 
bread  by  "the  sweat  of  the  face;"  they  had  no  distinc- 


J 88  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

tion,  no  rank,  no  worldly  wealth  nor  honors.  Earth's 
great  ones  would  usually  be  ashamed  of  such  a  lineage, 
birth-place  and  condition,  and  some  earthly  kings  have 
invented  great  lies  and  legends  to  hide  the  lowliness 
and  obscurity  of  their  birth.  But  no  one  ever  heard 
an  intimation  that  "our  King"  was  ashamed  of  His 
parentage,  place  or  position.  And  we  rejoice  in  this 
fact.  When  we  want  a  ruler  here,  we  choose  him  from 
among  the  people — those  who  have  earthly  kings 
desire  they  shall  be  of  their  own  kind.  And  we  rejoice 
that  our  King  is  one  of  us. 

Second.  Genealogy  of  "our  King."  But  He  has  a 
lineage  that  runs  far  back  of  Nazareth,  Bethlehem  or 
Jerusalem,  far  beyond  and  above  Solomon,  David, 
Abraham  or  Adam,  as  the  eternal  Son  of  the  eternal 
Father!  He  can  call  the  Creator  and  Sovereign  of  the 
universe  Father,  as  no  mere  created  being  could.  And 
the  Father  says,  "This  is  My  only  beloved  Son,"  as 
He  does  not  declare  of  any  creature  He  ever  spake 
into  being.  He  was  an  equal  on  His  Father's  throne, 
the  King  over  all  subjects  in  the  universe,  before  He 
"became  "our  King."  No  people  ever  had  or  will  have 
a  king  of  such  noble,  honorable  and  exalted  lineage 
as  ours,  "This  glorious  One,"  "The  mighty  God," 
"The  Father's  Son!" 

Third.  When  was  "our  King"  proclaimed?  When 
the  covenant  of  redemption  was  entered  into  between 
Him  and  His  Father,  He  then  began  to  exercise  His 
Toyal  office  for  us,  "before  the  mountains  were  brought 
forth  or  hills  settled,"  then,  by  Solomon,  He  says, 
"were  His  delights  with  the  sons  of  men."  And  from 
the  first  promise  to  our  fallen  parents  in  Eden  He 
"began  to  show  His  kingly  grace ;  but  He  was  not  for- 
mally proclaimed  by  God  King  in  our  world  until. 


*  THE  GOLDEN  POT,  189 

having  joined  deity  to  humanity,  He  stood  beneath 
the  baptismal  water  on  the  banks  of  Jordan  and  the 
Holy  Spirit,  in  visible  form,  descended  upon  Him,, 
and  the  voice  of  the  Father  was  heard  saying,  "This 
is  My  beloved  Son,  in  whom    I    am    well    pleased." 
Then  the  eternal  King  anointed  and  announced  His 
Son  as  prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth,  to  reign  over 
the  earth  according  to  His  royal  will.     Then  Christ 
could  say  to  His  disciples,  "I  appoint  unto  you  a 
kingdom,  as  My  Father    has    appointed    unto    Me." 
And  when  He  hung  upon  the  cross,  God  constrained 
even  Pilate  to  acknowledge  and  proclaim  His  royal 
right  and  title.     We  may  thus  say  that  at  Jordan  and 
Calvary  it  was  proclaimed  to  heaven,  earth  and  hell 
that   Jesus    was    the    elect    and    only    King  of  men  I 
"Notwithstanding,  have  I  set  My  King  upon  My  holy 
hill  of  Zion." 

Fourth.  When  was  "our  King"  inaugurated?  In- 
auguration is  a  great  day  with  earthly  kings.  Armies 
are  called  out  with  all  "the  pomp  and  glorious  circum- 
stance of  war;"  the  high  officers  of  state,  in  all  the 
glittering  regalia  of  rank  and  ensigns  of  power,  assem- 
ble, and,  amid  applauding  multitudes,  with  shout  and 
songs  of  joy,  they  set  their  king  upon  the  throne  and 
set  the  crown  upon  his  head.  Some  such  inaugura- 
tion, I  believe,  "our  King"  received,  when  from  Mount 
Olivet  He  ascended  and  "a  cloud  received  Him  out  of 
sight;"  ascended  up  far  above  all  principality  and 
power  and  might  and  dominion  and  "sat  down  at  the 
right  hand  of  the  majesty  on  high."  Having  over- 
come, "He  sat  with  His  Father  in  His  throne,"  then, 
"He  set  upon  His  head  a  crown  of  purest  gold."  Then 
all  the  angels  and  high  archangels  and  principalities 
and  powers  of  heaven  assembled  and,  I  think,  they 


J90  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

^ang  something  like  this:  "Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye 
^ates,  be  ye  Hfted  up,  ye  everlasting  doors;  and  the 
King  of  glory  shall  come  in.  Who  is  this  King  of 
glory?  Who  is  this?  The  Lord,  strong  and  mighty; 
the  Lord,  mighty  in  battle!  Lift  up  your  heads,  O 
ye  gates,  even  lift  them  up,  ye  everlasting  doors;  and 
the  King  of  glory  shall  come  in!" 

"This  wonderful  King,  so  true  and  brave, 
This  righteous  King,  so  strong  to  save, 
That  vanquished  Satan  and  the  grave, 
Is  our  victorious  King!" 

And  with  angel  shout  and  song  and  joy  of  those 
already  redeemed,  they  welcome  Him  to  His  media- 
torial throne  and  crown!  But  I  believe  "our  King" 
will  have  another  inauguration  when  "He  has  put 
all  enemies  under  His  feet,"  when  He  has  overthrown 
all  the  powers  of  hell,  has  conquered  and  subdued  all 
the  earth,  He  will  again  ascend  in  the  dyed  garments 
of  victory,  having  written  on  His  thigh  and  vesture 
"King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords."  The  waiting 
throne  above  will  greet  Him  with  the  twenty-fourth 
Psalm  and  the  "song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb;"  and  all 
"the  armies  of  heaven,  upon  white  horses,  clothed  in 
fine  linen,  white  and  clean,"  shall  be  His  retinue  and 
guard  of  honor,  and  all  the  prophets  and  apostles  and 
martyrs  and  all  redeemed  saints  of  earth  will  come 
after  Him  with  palms  and  harps  and  songs,  "as  the 
voice  of  a  great  multitude  and  the  voice  of  many 
waters,  and  the  voice  of  mighty  thunderings,  saying, 
'Alleluia,  for  the  Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth !'  " 

My  hearers,  I  hope  to  be  present  at  that  inaugura- 
tion, and  hope  to  greet  you  in  that  procession!  But 
we  have  been  caught  up  and  carried  away  by  this 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  191 

rapturous  vision  that  awaits  us,  but  we  must  come 
back  to  earth  and  for  awhile  yet  follow  "our  King" 
and  His  members  through  this  sinful  world. 

Fifth.  What  is  the  history  of  "our  King?"  Of  His 
infancy,  youth  and  early  manhood  little  is  known, 
we  only  know  He  was  "the  holy  child,"  the  obedient, 
upright  youth  and  the  perfect  man.  The  first  three 
years  after  He  was  proclaimed  King  on  the  banks 
of  Jordan  were  years  of  privation,  toil,  travail,  perse- 
cution and  suffering,  ending  in  ignominious  death. 
Since  that  His  visible  life  on  earth  has  only  been 
through  His  mystical  body,  the  Church,  and  in  the 
persons  of  His  loyal  followers;  with  whom  He  has 
walked  through  waters  and  great  rivers,  through  fur- 
nace fires  and  flames  kindled  for  them.  The  history 
of  the  elect  Church  is  the  history  of  "our  King." 
Head  the  lives  of  her  faithful  teachers  and  preachers, 
lives  of  her  holy  men  and  women  and  children,  her 
true  witnesses;  read  her  martyr  roll  and  her  march 
through  wilderness  and  desert  and  mountain  region, 
through  night  and  darkness  and  storm,  through 
faggot  fires  and  tears  and  blood,  with  mingled  plead- 
ings and  groanings  and  songs  and  thanksgivings,  ap- 
parent defeats  and  sure  triumphs;  this  has  been  the 
life  of  the  Church  and  this  has  been  the  visible  history 
of  "our  King"  on  earth. 

Sixth.  The  thrones  of  "our  King."  Unlike  any 
other  royal  personage,  our  King  has  a  two-fold  nature 
and  occupies  two  thrones.  His  high  throne  of  glory 
is  in  the  heaven  of  heavens.  There  He  is  "the  Lamb 
in  the  midst  of  the  throne,"  and  David  says,  "Thou 
hast  prepared  Thy  throne  in  the  heavens  and  Thy 
kingdom  ruleth  over  all!"  Before  this  throne  He 
receives    the    homage  and  service  of  all  dominions. 


192  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

principalities  and  powers  of  the  universe;  thence  He 
issues  His  commands  and  royal  decrees  that  angelic 
messengers  gladly  and  swiftly  execute,  whether  of 
judgment  or  mercy,  whether  to  destroy  or  save.  But 
in  His  Church  on  earth  He  fills  a  throne  of  grace, 
before  which  He  hears  the  petitions  of  sinful  men  and 
from  whence  He  issues  His  royal  pardons;  from  thence 
He  sends  out  His  gracious  proclamation  of  Gospel 
terms  and  His  royal  promises  of  help  and  strength 
and  love,  and  pronounces  His  royal  judgments  of 
mercy  to  the  penitent.  Here  "are  set  thrones  of 
judgment,  the  thrones  of  the  house  of  David."  To 
this  throne  we  may  come  boldly  and  obtain  mercy 
and  find  grace  to  help  in  time  of  need. 

Seventh.  The  sceptres  of  "our  King."  As  He  fills 
two  thrones,  so  He  wields  two  sceptres.  From  the 
throne  of  His  grace  He  holds  out  the  sceptre  of  His 
Gospel  love,  the  truth  of  His  mercy  and  favor.  If 
any  sinner  of  earth  approaches  this  throne  He  holds 
out  this  golden  sceptre  that  He  may  kiss  it  and  be 
assured  of  royal  pardon  and  peace.  This  is  the  rod 
of  His  strength,  w^hich  He  puts  forth  in  Zion  by  the 
power  of  His  Word  and  Spirit,  to  win  and  gather  and 
rule  the  hearts  of  His  people  on  earth.  The  other 
sceptre  the  Psalmist  calls  a  rod  of  iron,  the  sceptre  of 
His  almightiness  and  holy  wrath,  that  He  wields  in 
love  for  righteousness  and  hatred  of  wickedness,  with 
which  He  breaks  in  pieces  mighty  men  and  crumbles 
earthly  thrones  in  the  dust.  The  right  hand  of  "our 
King,"  that  holds  this  sceptre,  teaches  terrible  things 
in  justice,  as  He  rides  forth  prosperously  for  meekness, 
truth  and  righteousness. 

Eighth.  Who  are  the  subjects  of  "our  King?"  All 
the  wicked  spirits  that  roam  the  universe  and  all  the 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  193 

devils  in  hell.  Over  all  these  He  has  authority,  for 
He  says,  "All  power  is  given  unto  Me  in  heaven  and 
earth."  While  in  person  on  earth  He  made  them 
feel  their  subjection  by  casting  them  out,  restraining 
and  commanding  them.  And  now  He  shortens  or 
lengthens  their  chain  at  His  pleasure,  and  limits  all 
their  operations  just  as  it  suits  His  purpose  and  glory. 
All  disobedient,  rebellious  people  of  earth  are  His 
subjects.  Potentates,  kings,  princes  and  magistrates, 
strong  and  weak,  high  and  low,  learned  and  unlearned, 
rich  and  poor.  Some  of  these  acknowledge  Him  not, 
because  they  are  ignorant  of  Him;  others  hate  Him 
without  a  cause,  rebel  against  Him  and  seek  to  thwart 
His  purposes  and  overthrow  His  kingdom;  and  while 
He  does  not  take  away  their  freedom  and  responsibil- 
ity, yet  He  does  set  bounds  to  their  rage,  as  He  does 
to  the  proud  waves  of  the  sea.  He  defeats  their  pur- 
poses and  causes  even  their  wrath  to  praise  Him. 

But  He  has  multitudes  of  holy,  loyal,  angelic  and 
redeemed  subjects,  who  serve,  worship  and  honor  Him 
in  loving  loyalty. 

Ninth.  The  laws  of  "our  King."  He  is  an  absolute 
sovereign  and  His  will  is  the  only  and  unchangeable 
law;  and  all  the  statutes  His  subjects  are  required  to 
obey,  and  that  guide,  restrain  and  bind  them,  are 
decrees  of  His  own  wisdom  and  love.  These  are 
written  for  us  in  His  law  book,  and  they  are  holy  and 
just  and  good,  designed  for  and  adapted  to  the  happi- 
ness of  His  subjects;  for  "righteousness  is  the  girdle 
of  His  loins  and  faithfulness  the  girdle  of  His  reins." 
The  law  of  kindness  is  in  His  mouth,  and  the  law  of 
redeeming  love  issues  from  the  throne  of  His  grace. 

Tenth.  The  dominions  of  "our  King." 

1st.  He    has    an    essential,    rightful    dominion    of 


IQ4  '^^^^  GOLDEN  POT. 

justice.  This  includes  all  on  earth,  all  under  the  whole 
heaven,  all  within  the  boundless  universe.  The  king- 
dom and  the  dominion  and  the  greatness  of  the  king- 
dom under  the  whole  heaven  and  above  the  heavens 
are  His,  and  all  dominions  shall  serve  and  obey  Him. 

2d.  The  dominion  of  His  grace  is  within  His 
Church,  over  His  redeemed  people,  wherever  His 
throne  of  grace  and  Gospel  sceptre  are  acknowledged. 
This  dominion  He  is  continually  extending,  from  State 
to  State,  from  country  to  country,  from  nation  to 
nation,  daily  adding  redeemed  and  loyal  subjects  to  it. 
And  this  He  will  continue  to  do  until  "all  ends  of  the 
earth  shall  see  the  salvation  of  our  God,"  until  the 
earth  shall  be  filled  with  His  glory  and  the  knowledge 
of  the  Lord  cover  the  earth  as  the  waters  the  sea." 
"All  kings  shall  fall  down  before  Him  and  all  nations 
shall  serve  Him."  Then  this  dominion  of  grace  shall 
be  co-extensive  with  His  rightful  dominion  on  earth. 

Eleventh.  The  army  of  "our  King."  This  army 
numbers  myriads  that  none  can  enumerate;  it  consists 
of  various  divisions,  yet  all  execute  His  will.  The 
tiniest  insects  of  earth  are  employed  by  Him  and 
swarms  of  flies  and  bees  and  hornets  and  frogs  and 
locusts,  caterpillar  and  cankerworm,  are  in  His  army, 
and  with  these  He  destroyed  the  pride  and  power  of 
Egypt,  drove  the  giants  of  Canaan  before  them  and 
sorely  chastised  ungrateful  Israel.  Another  division 
is  made  up  of  the  lightnings  that  come  and  say  unto 
Him,  "Here  we  are,"  and  the  floods  and  the  storm 
clouds  and  the  darkness  and  the  hail  and  the  snow 
and  the  frost  and  the  fire  and  earthquake  and  the  pes- 
tilence. These  have  shaken  down  the  palaces  and 
fortresses  of  His  foes,  consumed  their  wealth  and 
strength  and  swept  them  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  195 

Another  division  is  made  up  of  holy  and  loyal  angels, 
before  one  of  which  the  hosts  of  Assyria  melted  like 
frost  before  the  sun.  And  many  other  hosts  of  earth 
have  perished  in  the  same  way  and  knew  not  who  had 
slain  them.  Angels  stood  guard  around  the  prophet 
Elijah,  and  are  ministering  spirits  to  the  heirs  of 
salvation, 

"The  angel  of  the  Lord  encamps,  and  round  encompasseth 
All  those  about  that  do  Him  fear,  and  them  delivereth." 

Another  division  of  His  army  is  made  up  of  patri- 
archs, prophets,  apostles,  martyrs,  missionaries, 
preachers,  teachers,  and  all  His  loyal  followers,  and 
even  the  little  children  of  the  Sabbath  school,  who  love 
Him,  for  the  prophecy  is,  "A  little  child  shall  lead 
them,'"'  and  "Out  of  the  mouths  of  babes  and  sucklings 
He  has  ordained  strength  to  still  the  enemy  and 
avenger!"  This  latter  division  operates  only  in  the 
dominion  of  His  grace,  round  the  throne  of  His  mercy, 
and  under  the  sceptre  of  His  love.  But  "our  King" 
leads  all  the  divisions  and  utters  His  voice  before  all 
His  army,  for  it  is  very  great. 

Twelfth.  The  conquests  of  "our  King."  His 
personal  conquest  began  when  by  faith  in  the  Word 
of  Divine  truth  He  met  the  great  adversary  in  the 
wilderness,  on  the  mountain  and  the  pinnacle  of  the 
temple,  and  overcame  him  there.  Then,  during  His 
life,  He  met  and  defeated  Him  again  and  again.  Then 
in  Gethsemane  and  on  Calvary  He  was  encompassed 
about  and  assaulted  by  all  the  legions  of  hell.  Sore, 
bitter,  bloody  was  the  conflict,  for  He  was  left  alone; 
angels  stood  aloof,  God  hid  His  face,  earth  grew  dark 
and  hell  roared  in  triumph.  Although  stained  with 
His  own  blood  and  faint  with  wounds,  yet  He  sur- 
rendered not  to  the  enemy,  but  voluntarily  gave  up 


196  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

His  own  life  and  died  a  victor!  Then  "He  spoiled 
principalities  and  powers,  making  a  show  of  them 
openly,"  and  unfurled  a  banner  of  victory  that  has 
never  been  folded  since.  And  after  a  three  days'  rest 
in  the  grave  He  tore  open  the  sepulchre  and  fulfilled 
the  promise  that  is  written,  "O  death,  I  will  be  thy 
plagues!  O  grave,  1  will  be  thy  destruction!"  Then, 
says  the  Psalmist,  "He  went  up  with  a  shout,  the  Lord 
with  the  sound  of  a  trumpet."  It  was  the  shout  of 
triumph.  Then  He  gathered  His  great  army  under 
His  power  and  with  the  crown  on  His  head  He  leads 
them  and  utters  His  voice  before  them.  He  has  made 
already  great  conquests  in  the  earth,  but  He  shall 
make  yet  far  greater.  All  foes  shall  fall  before  Him; 
heathen  idolatry,  darkness  and  superstition,  Moham- 
medan fanaticism,  cruelty  and  delusion;  papal  assump- 
tion, ignorance  and  corruption;  despotic  oppression 
and  slavery;  infidelity,  atheism  and  anarchy,  intem- 
perance, lewdness,  Mormonism  and  robbery,  national 
rebellion,  cruelty  and  crime.  Yes,  my  hearers,  earth 
still  has  dark  places  that  are  the  habitations  of  horrid 
cruelty  and  multitudes  of  wrongs  and  sorrows  and 
griefs,  but  be  not  troubled,  "our  King"  will  yet  right 
them  all.  Each  of  these  foes  and  all  others  not  named, 
will  fall  before  one  or  another  division,  or  all  tne 
divisions  of  His  army  combined.  Wait  till  the  battle 
ends.  The  division  of  His  grace,  the  soldiers  of  the 
cross,  are  to-day  following  their  King  and  leader  up 
the  Mississippi  and  over  the  Rocky  Mountains;  down 
the  Columbia  and  the  great  river  of  Alaska;  up  the 
Red  River  and  the  Rio  Grande.  They  are  marching 
after  our  King  around  the  Yellow  Sea  and  up  the 
Yang-Tse-Kiang  of  China,  and  among  the  fiowery 
islands  of  Japan;  through  the  Gulf  of  Siam  and  up  the 
Catr.bojia;  t'.p  the  Ganges  and  along  the  Ural  moun- 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  197 

tains;  beyond  the  Persian  gulf  and  up  the  Tigris  and 
Euphrates;    up    the    mysterious  Nile  and  the  great 
Congo,  into  the  heart  of  the  Dark  Continent!     Soon 
the  feet  of  those  that  "bring  glad    tidings    of    good 
things,  that  publish  salvation,"  will  be  seen  on  every 
mountain  top  of  the  earth,  and  the  soldiers  of  the  cross, 
the  army  of  "our  King,"    marching    along    all    the 
streams  of  earth  with  songs  of  praise.     The  conquests 
of  "our  King"  have  only  fairiy  begun;  His  purpose 
is  revealed,  but  their  fruits  are  ripening  fast;  and  they 
shall  go  on  until  "Afric's  dusky  swarms,  that  from 
Morocco  to  Angola  dwelt  and  drank  the  Niger  from 
his  native  wells,  or  roused  the  lion  in  Numidian  groves" 
have  heard  His  name!     And  "Egypt,  casting  her  gods 
into  the  Nile,  and  black  Ethiopia,  that  shadowless 
beneath  the    'torrid   burned'    shall   come   to  Him!" 
And  the  "silken  tribes  of  Asia,"  and  "Ishmael's  wan- 
dering race,"  and  "all  the  tribes  that  dwelt  from  Tigris 
to  the  Ganges  wave  and  worshipped  fire  or  Brahma;" 
and  "the  Tartar  hordes  that  roamed  from  Oby's  bank 
southward    to    the    wondrous    wall;"    the     tribes     of 
Europe,  the  Russ,  the  Pole,  the  Greek,  the  Turk,  the 
Spaniard  and  the  Gaul,  all  these  shall  own  "our  King," 
Messiah's  reign!     His  soldiers'  march  shall  never  halt 
until  the  utmost  bounds  of  the  earth  have  heard  His 
royal  name. 

"For  this  cause  to  the  world  He  came; 

For  this  He  suffered  grief  and  shame, 

And  dying,  rose,  and  won  the  name 
He  bears,  the  King  of  kings. 

"His  sword's  still  girded  on  His  thigh, 
His  right  to  reign  who  dare  deny? 
Or  who  the  armies  can  defy, 
Of  our  almighty  King?" 


198  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

Thirteenth.  How  long  will  "our  King"  reign?  The 
reigns  of  other  kings  are  ended  sometimes  by  the  loss 
of  their  crown;  if  not,  in  a  few  years  death  is  sure 
to  depose  them.  But  "our  King"  is  invincible  and 
omnipotent,  therefore  can  never  lose  His  crown  in  any 
contest,  and  over  Him  death  has  no  power.  True, 
He  died  once,  to  satisfy,  honor  and  magnify  the  law 
He  was  to  administer;  died  to  save  those  who  were 
under  the  law,  who  had  broken  and  were  condemned 
by  it;  died,  but  rose  again  and  proclaimed  Himself,  "I 
am  He  that  liveth  and  was  dead." 

Paul  says,  "He  shall  reign  until  He  hath  put  all 
enemies  under  His  feet;  then  He  shall  deliver  the 
kingdom  to  the  Father."  Whatever  this  may  mean, 
I  know  that  He  shall  reign  "as  long  as  the  sun  and 
moon  endures;  that  His  name  shall  endure  forever, 
and  His  dominion  shall  not  pass  away,  and  of  His 
kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end."  And  He  that  over- 
cometh  shall  sit  down  with  Him  in  His  throne. 
Therefore,  whatever  Paul's  language  may  mean,  there 
is  some  sense  in  which  His  reign  is  forever  and  ever. 
We  could  not  bear  the  thought  that  He  should  ever 
cease  to  be  "our  King."  Be  assured  this  can  never 
be,  for  He  is  our  eternal  King,  and  we  shall  see  His 
glory! 

Fourteenth.  The  glory  of  "our  King."  Some 
earthly  kings  glory  in  many  things  they  possess  and 
do,  but  none  can  compare  in  glory  with  "our  King." 
Besides  all  the  glory  He  had  with  the  Father  "before 
the  world  was,"  there  is  put  upon  this  all  the  glory  He 
won  in  His  achievements  as  "our  King."  Glorious 
in  His  exalted  and  Divine  lineage,  glorious  in  His 
perfect  manhood  life  on  earth,  glorious  in  His  con- 
quering death,  glorious  in  His  destruction  of  the  grave, 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  199 

glorious  in  His  history  on  earth,  glorious  in  His 
throne  of  glory  and  of  grace;  glorious  in  His  golden 
sceptre  of  love  and  His  iron  sceptre  of  destruction, 
glorious  in  His  law,  holy,  just  and  good,  glorious  in 
His  dominions  of  power,  justice  and  grace,  glorious 
in  His  great  and  invincible  army,  glorious  in  His  con- 
quests by  His  royal  followers,  glorious  in  the  fruits 
of  His  Spirit  and  the  countless  trophies  of  His  grace, 
that  He  shall  bring  back  in  triumph!  When  all  this 
glory  is  concentrated  and  blended  with  the  glory 
which  He  had  with  the  Father,  "before  the  world  was," 
surely  it  will  make  a  brightness  of  glory,  that  nothing 
else  will  be  needed  to  lighten  with  eternal  day  the 
heavenly  world. 

Then  in  due  time  we  shall  enter  into  and  partake 
of  His  peerless,  eternal  glory. 


XII. 
Beautiful  Situation  of  the  Church. 

"Beautiful  for  situation,  the  joy   of  the  whole  earth  is  Mount  Zion, 
the  city  of  the  great  King,''  Psalm  xlviii:  2. 

Many  scholars  suppose  this  Psalm  was  written  dur- 
ing the  reign  of  Jehoshaphat,  after  his  great  victory 
over  the  combined  armies  of  Ammon,Moab  andEdom, 
It  was  evidently  written  when  Jerusalem  was  in 
splendor  and  prosperity,  and  the  temple  in  its  glory. 
That  great  blind  bard,  Milton,  who  saw  not  with  the 
eye  of  sense,  but  of  the  soul,  thus  describes  the  capital 
of  Judea: 

"Fair  Jerusalem,  the  holy  city,  lifted  high  her  towers, 

And  higher  yet  the  glorious  temple  reared 

Her  pile,  far  off,  appearing  like  a  mount 

Of  alabaster,  tipt  with  golden  spires." 

And  modern  travellers  who  have  walked  about  her 
mountain  fastnesses,  along  the  brow  of  the  Gihon  and 
Hinnom  valleys  on  the  west,  and  the  Cheesemongers 
on  the  east,  and  from  the  side  of  Olivet  have  seen  the 
rising  sun  gild  her  lofty  towers  and  bulwarks,  and 
bathe  in  light  each  tapering  minaret  and  massive  dome 
and  spire,  have  exclaimed,  "Beautiful  for  situation, 
indeed,  and  impregnable  for  strength  is  Mount  Zion 
and  Jerusalem!"  But,  as  seen  by  modern  travellers, 
it  could  not  be  compared  to  its  magnificence  in  Jehos- 
haphat's  day.  But  it  was  not  of  this  temporal,  mate- 
rial Jerusalem  or  Zion  that  this  royal  psalm  was 
written,  only  as  she  was  type  and  symbol  of  something 
better  and  more  glorious.     For  of  the  Zion  that  was 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  201 

then  in  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  it  is  said,  "God  will 
establish  her  forever,"  but  of  the  material  Jerusalem 
we  know  her  lofty  towers  and  bulwarks  are  crumbled,, 
her  massive  walls  are  powdered  dust,  and,  as  Jesus 
foretold  of  her  magnificent  buildings,  not  one  stone 
is  left  upon  another;  and  her  earthly  children  wail 
around  her  ruins  a  lamentation  more  sorrowful  than 
their  captive  fathers'  when  they  hung  their  harps  on 
the  willows  by  the  rivers  of  Babylon.  This  is  all  they 
have  to  tell  to  the  generations,  as  they  come  and  go, 
of  their  once  golden  tipt  mount  of  alabaster. 

But  there  is  another  Zion  of  which  this  was  but  a 
type  and  symbol.  Of  this  one  more  glorious  things 
are  spoken  as  the  city  of  God,  whose  battlements  and 
towers  will  never  be  overthrown.  This  impregnable 
and  imperishable  spiritual  Zion  and  temple  is  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  a  spiritual  city  and  kingdom, 
whose  subjects  and  citizens  are  made  up  of  all  on  earth 
who,  in  every  age,  are  by  faith  united  to  the  person 
of  Jesus  Christ,  regenerated  by  His  Spirit  and  accept 
and  obey  His  laws  and  ordinances.  Such,  and  such 
alone,  are  true  citizens  and  subjects  of  the  Church 
of  Jesus  Christ;  that  city  whose  walls  are  salvation  and 
her  gates  praise.  And  of  this  Zion  it  is  true  that  she 
is  "beautiful  for  situation,  the  joy  of  the  whole  earth, 
the  city  of  the  great  King,"  and  "God  will  establish 
her  forever." 

Some  points  of  analogy  between  the  Church's 
situation  and  that  of  Jerusalem  and  the  temple. 

First.  The  Church,  in  foundation,  mountain  scenery 
and  strength,  is  beautiful  for  situation,  like  Jerusalem 
and  the  temple.  They  were  builded  upon  a  rock,  deep 
laid,  strong  and  immoveable,  and  buttressed  around 
with  mountain  walls  and  everlasting  hills.     No  city 


^02  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

nor  temple  ever  rested  on  such  a  corner-stone;  and  in 
the  day  of  her  prosperity,  standing  on  the  summit 
of  Zion,  a  panorama  of  beautiful  valley  and  mountain 
scenery,  clothed  in  soft  robes  of  azure  hue,  lay  around 
you  on  every  side;  and  Olivet  and  Mizpeh,  Gibeon 
and  Ramleh,  stand  like  giant  sentinels  around  the 
royal  city.  Says  a  traveller,  "There  appeared  to  be 
no  way  an  enemy  could  approach  save  from  the  north- 
west, through  the  rugged  pass  of  Beth-Horan — so 
Zion  was  called  im.pregnable,"  and  was  so  until  she 
sinned  away  her  Divine  defence.  Such,  but  far  more 
beautiful  in  foundation,  mountain  scenery  and  strength, 
is  the  situation  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ.  She 
is  founded  upon  a  rock,  deeper  laid  and  more  stable 
than  the  granite  strata  of  earth — Jesus  Christ  Himself 
is  her  corner-stone.  He  said,  "Upon  this  rock  will 
I  build  My  Church,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not 
prevail  against  it."  She  is  laid  in  the  eternal  purposes 
and  covenant  oath  of  Divine  truth  and  faithfulness, 
and  these  are  far  older  than  the  hoary  hills,  and  far 
more  immutable  than  they;  she  is  girded  about  with 
the  mountains  of  Divine  promises  and  hills  of  Divine 
faithfulness  and  the  armies  of  omnipotence  are  her 
impregnable  walls;  her  foundation  and  scenery  and 
strength  far  exceed  that  which  supported,  adorned 
and  guarded  old  Jerusalem.     The  Psalmist  sings, 

"As  round  about  Jerusalem  the  mountains  stand  alway, 
The  Lord  His  folk  doth  compass  so  from  henceforth  and  for 
aye." 

But  the  Lord  says,  "The  mountains  shall  depart  and 
the  hills  be  removed,  but  My  kindness  shall  not  depart 
from  thee  nor  the  covenant  of  My  peace  be  removed, 
saith  the  Lord,  that  hath  mercy  on  thee."     He  that 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  203 

will  take  his  stand  on  the  hilltop  vision  of  the  Church 
and  look  up  toward  the  mountain  heights  of  the  Divine 
attributes,  and  out  over  the  hills  of  Divine  faithfulness 
and  along  the  gleaming  valleys  of  Divine  promises, 
will  see  a  prospect  of  beauty  and  grandeur  and  strength 
that  has  no  parallel  on  earth.     O  Church  of  God,  Thy 
"beauty  is  perfect  through  the  Divine  comeliness  put 
upon   Thee,   Thy   defence  is   impregnable   and   Thy 
sentinels  never  sleep!     The  armies  of  the  aliens  may 
•come  against  Thee,  the  heathen  may  rage,  the  kings 
of  the  earth  may  set  themselves,  the  rulers  take  coun- 
sel together  and  the  people  imagine  a  vain  thing,  for 
they  shall  never  open  Thy  gates  nor  break  down  Thy 
walls!     "He  that  in  heaven  sits  shall  laugh,  the  Lord 
shall  have  them,  in  derision."     When    they    see    the 
strength  of  thy  battlements  and  bulwarks,  fear  shall 
take  hold  upon  them,  and  being  troubled,  they  shall 
Tiaste  away,  "for  I,  saith  the  Lord,  will  be  a  wall  of 
fire  round  about,  and  the  glory  in  the  midst  of  her," 
Beautiful  is  thy  situation  in  the  covenant  strength  and 
grandeur  of  the  royal  Redeemer,  O  Church  of  Christ! 
We  must  notice  one  respect  in  which  the  situation 
of  Christ's  Church  finds  no  analogy  and  far  excels 
ancient  Jerusalem.     That  city  was  but  scantily  sup- 
plied with  water,  and  what  she  had  was  black,  brackish 
and  bitter.     The  brook  Kedron,  that  ran  along  the 
valley  of  Hinnom  on  the  east  side,  although  fed  by 
all  the  rivulets  of  the  hills,  was  generally  but  small 
and    sometimes    totally    dry.     To   remedy    this    evil, 
Solomon  built  his  great  pools,  and  Hezekiah  brought 
the  streams  of  Gihon  from  the  south  side  into  the 
city,  and  Pilate  brought  water  from  Etam,  yet  she  was 
poorly    supplied    against  famine  or  siege.     But  the 
Church  stands  at  the  confluence  of  two  strong  rivers 


204  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

of  this  world  that  never  waste — the  rivers  of  Divine 
providence  and  grace.  These  flow  in  perennial 
streams  through  her  streets  and  homes,  cleansing, 
refreshing  and  fertiHzing  her,  insuring  safety  and 
health  and  life.  No  famine  can  ever  waste  her  supply, 
no  siege  can  ever  shut  up  the  fountain  head,  nor  tura 
aside  the  river  of  God,  that  enriches  and  makes  glad 
the  city  of  the  great  King — the  fortress  that  could  not 
be  taken  because  it  had  a  secret  channel  to  the  waters 
of  a  great  lake.  So  the  Church  has  a  channel  to  the 
exhaustless  Divine  supply.  Beautiful  for  situation  is 
the  Church,  that  stands  on  either  bank  of  the  river 
that  flows  out  from  the  throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb. 

Second.  Zion  and  Jerusalem  were  beautifully  situ- 
ated amid  fertile  hills  and  rich  valleys.  Not  only  the 
vine-clad  hills  and  verdant  valleys  that  lay  near  the 
city  poured  their  bounteous  harvests  into  her,  but  the 
wide  bottom  lands  of  Cele-Syria,  that  covered  the  foot 
of  gorgeous  Lebanon  and  the  valley  of  white  topped 
Herman  and  the  fountains  of  Jordan,  all  poured  their 
wealth  into  her  storehouse.  However  dry,  barren, 
dreary  and  desolate  this  land  may  now  appear  to 
travellers,  it  once  flowed  as  with  milk  and  honey.  The 
grapes  of  Eshcol  were  no  myths.  Ephraim  was,  in- 
deed, on  the  head  of  fat  valleys.  And  the  Psalmist 
was  indulq-jng  in  no  mere  poetic  license  of  fancy  when 
he  sang  thus: 

"With  flocks  the  pastures  covered  are, 
The  vales  with  corn  are  clad, 
And  now  they  shout  and  sing  to  Thee, 
For  Thou  hast  made  them  glad!" 

But  more  beautifully  is  the  Church  situated  amid 
the  hills  of  Divine  promise  and  the  valleys  of  sweet 


f  THE  GOLDEN  POT.  20$ 

ordinances.     No  hills  are  clothed  with  such  fruit  and 
foliage  as  the  hills  of  gracious  promise,  and  His  chil- 
dren can  here  gather  grapes  larger  and  sweeter  than 
the  grapes  of  Eshcol  and  drink  wine  that  never  ine- 
briates, but  "cheereth  God  and  man,"  the  wine  that 
"goeth  down  sweetly,  causing  the  lips  of  those  who 
are  asleep  to  speak."     Man  never  reaped  any  valleys 
that  yielded  such  a  harvest  as  the  valleys  of  God's 
ordinances;    here    they    can  eat  angel's  food,  gather 
manna  in  the  morning,  at  noon  the  corn  of  heaven, 
and  in  the  evening  the  bread  of  life.     Her  citizens  are 
fed  with  the  finest  of  the  wheat  and  eat  honey  out  of 
the  Rock.     He  who  will  come    into    the    Church    of 
Christ  and  feed  upon  the  fruit  of  His  precious  promises 
and  delight  themselves  in  His  ordinances  of  Gospel 
preaching,  praise,  prayer  and  communion,  will  feed  the 
whole  man,  physical,  intellectual  and  spiritual,  and 
be  nourished  up  unto  eternal  life.     He  will  gather  a 
strength  that  no  other  food  of  earth  can  supply,  a 
strength  for  the  home  and  the  street,  for  labor  and 
rest,  for  sickness  and  health,  for  day  and  night,  for 
pleasure  and  pain,  for  life  and  death — a  strength  that 
insures  victory  in  every  conflict!     He  shall  be  satisfied 
"with  the  goodness  of  God's  house,"  his  soul  shall 
"be  filled  as  "with  marrow  and  fatness,"  and  "always 
ilourishing."     I  know  the  men  of  the  world  sometimes 
exclaim,  "What!     Do  you  expect  to  find  intellect  and 
soul  food  in  the  Church?     No!  no!     We    can    find 
stronger  and  better  diet  in  Homer  and  Socrates,  Plato 
and  Eschylus,  in  Virgil,  Tacitus,  Juvenal  and  Horace, 
in  Huxley,  Darwin  and  Draper,"  and  they  loathe  the 
teachings    of    the    Church  of  God,  as    the  Israelites 
loathed  the  manna,  and  call  it  light  bread  and  stale. 
Yet  history,  observation  and  experience  prove  that  the 


2o6  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

best  food  the  children  of  this  world  ever  received  was 
from  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  food  that  has 
fed  the  best  home  life  and  society  life  and  business 
life  and  political  life  that  any  land  has  ever  known  was 
gathered  from  the  hills  and  valleys  where  stands  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  greatest  warriors  that 
have  fought  the  battles  and  won  the  victories  over 
human  oppression  and  falsehood  and  wrong  and 
misery,  fed  their  strength  on  this  food.  The  mighty 
souls  who  have  mapped  out  civilized  kingdoms,  reared 
thrones  of  righteous  judgment  on  earth  and  secured 
constitutional  liberty,  civil  and  religious,  to  men,  gath- 
ered their  strength  from  her  provision.  George  Ban- 
croft, historian,  says,  "Presbyterianism  is  gradual 
republicanism.  He  who  will  not  honor  the  memory 
and  respect  the  influence  of  Calvin,  knows  little  of 
the  origin  of  American  liberty."  The  historian  Ranke 
says,  "We  consider  Calvin  as  the  founder  of  the  free 
States  of  America."  James  Anthony  Froude  says, 
"Calvinism  is  the  spirit  that  rises  in  revolt  against 
untruth,  Ihe  inflashing  upon  the  conscience  of  the  laws 
by  which  mankind  are  governed." 

Without  this,  human  intellects  and  hearts  have  fed 
on  the  finest  classics,  ancient  and  modern,  and  the 
richest  provision  that  science,  philosophy,  history  and 
art  could  supply,  and  have  grown  hungry  and  lean  and 
starved  and  died,  but  no  soul  ever  fed  by  faith  upon- 
the  hills  and  in  the  vallevs  of  the  Church's  inheritance, 
in  her  green  pastures  and  by  her  pure  streams,  and 
complained  of  leanness  and  want.  "The  Lord's  my 
Shepherd;  I'll  not  want,"  is  the  language  of  all  the 
fold.  Beautiful  for  situation  is  the  Church  of  God, 
planted  amid  the  promises  of  His  truth  and  the  or- 
dinances of  His  grace,  "she  shall  grow  as  the  lily  and 
spread  forth  her  roots  as  Lebanon." 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  207 

Third.  She  is  situated  in  a  beautiful  cHmate.  The 
clear  atmosphere  and  the  deep,  metaUic  blue  of  the 
Syrian  sky  make  the  twilights  of  Palestine  long  and 
of  golden  beauty,  and  her  nights  gorgeous.  The 
snows  of  Lebanon  and  Hermon  moisten  her  summer 
heat,  and  the  moist  winds  of  Arabia  and  breezes  from 
the  sea  temper  her  winter  cold,  so  that  Jerusalem  is 
placed  in  a  beautiful  climate.  But  far  more  beautiful 
the  climate  in  which  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
placed.  She  lies  in  the  summer  climate  of  Divine 
love,  near  the  heart  of  God.  He  says  of  her,  "This 
is  my  rest,  here  still  I'll  stay,  for  I  do  love  it  well." 
Paul  says  Christ  "loved  the  Church  and  gave  Himself 
for  it."'  Nothing  else  so  fills  the  Redeemer's  soul  and 
receives  so  much  of  His  care  as  His  Church;  she  is 
His  Bride,  and  He  says,  "As  the  bridegroom  rejoiceth 
over  the  bride,  so  will  I  rejoice  over  thee."  The 
prophet  Zephaniah  says,  "The  Lord  thy  God  will 
rejoice  over  thee  with  joy;  He  will  rest  in  His  love. 
He  will  joy  over  thee  with  singing."  O,  how  He 
loves  the  Church!  He  delights  to  feel  her  nestling 
under  His  wings  and  crowding  up  close  to  His  heart; 
and  the  nearer  she  comes  to  Him,  the  clearer  she  feels 
the  strong  heart  beat  of  His  fervent  love,  and  the 
more  life  and  strength  and  joy  she  draws  from  that 
fountain  of  life  and  love.  The  face  of  the  Sun  of 
righteousness  makes  the  light  that  rules  her  day,  and 
His  smile  makes  the  warmth  of  her  summer.  She  has 
her  nights,  but  He  sets  them  thick  with  starry  promises 
and  some  of  these  reflect  the  light  of  His  countenance 
so  brightly  that  they  become  the  full  moon  in  the 
firmament  of  her  night.  And  if  she  enters  the  winter 
solstice,  yet  at  length  His  Spirit  breathes  a  vernal 
breath  upon  her  that  melts  her  ice  and  dispels  her  cold. 


:2o8  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

And  sometimes  this  gale  has  been  so  strong  from  the 
upper  Eden  that  she  has  inhaled  and  exhaled  a  breath 
as  fragrant  as  the  air  from  a  garden  of  sweet  spices 
.and  myrrh.  If  the  Church  but  loved  her  Husband  and 
Lord  as  He  loves  her,  and  kept  as  close  in  His  em- 
brace as  He  would  held  her,  she  would  never  know  a 
night  of  gloom  or  a  winter  of  cold  and  barrenness, 
but  wear  continually  the  robes  of  perennial  bloom 
and  fruitfulness.  Yet,  as  it  is,  she  will  always  dwell 
in  the  most  delightful  climate  of  this  world  until 
transplanted  to  the  eternal  summ.er  land  of  His  imme- 
«diate  presence  and  everlasting  love. 

Fourth.  So  beautiful  is  the  situation  of  the  Church 
that  from  her  position  the  widest,  grandest  and  m.ost 
varied  prospect  is  presented  that  can  be  seen  on  earth. 
If  you  take  a  position  on  the  summit  of  ancient  Zion, 
looking  westward  thirty-two  miles,  you  may  see  the 
water  line  of  the  Mediterranean,  "the  deep  blue  sea;" 
northward  and  eastward  you  look  down  on  the  top 
of  Mount  Bethel  and  Ramleh  and  Ebal, until  the  vision 
is  arrested  by  the  higher  peaks  of  dewy  Herman  and 
snowy  Lebanon.  North  rises  Mounts  Bethlehem  and 
Hebron,  from  the  great  battle  plain  of  Esdraelon, 
where  Roman,  Greek,  Persian  and  Jew  have  battled 
for  kingdoms;  on  every  side  a  prospect  of  woodland, 
Tiill,  valley  and  mountain  scenery  of  wide,  varied  and 
extended  grandeur  is  presented.  But  take  your  posi- 
tion on  the  Church's  mount  of  vision,  which  stands  in 
the  shining  pathway  of  historic  and  prophetic  reve- 
lation, and  you  can  have  an  immeasurably  more  dis- 
tant, wider  and  grander  view  than  from  any  other 
point  beneath  the  sun.  Backward  over  all  the  moun- 
tain tops,  hills  and  valleys  of  earth  she  points  you 
"back  to  the  beginning,  when  "God  created  the  heavens 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  209 

and  the  earth,"  and  tells  of  the  unregistered  ages  of 
chaos  and  night,  and  of  universal  light,  which  sprung 
from  the  fiat  of  Him  who  alone  is  light,  and  who 
clothed  the  sun  therewith  and  appointed  the  moon 
and  stars  their  places.  Returning  along  this  illumin- 
ated pathway,  you  can  look  on  the  moveable  tent- 
homes  of  patriarchs  and  glance  at  many  tribes  of  earth, 
building  and  gathering  into  great  cities  and  forming 
vast  kingdoms.  Then,  following  one  chosen  people 
through  Egyptian  bondage  and  deliverance,  along 
the  march  under  pillar  of  cloud  and  fire  through  the 
Red  Sea  and  the  wilderness,  long  before  Herodotus 
wrote  or  Homer  sang,  you  may  hear  Israel's  inspired 
legislator  announcing  the  briefest,  most  comprehen- 
sive, wisest  and  purest  code  of  law  the  world  has  ever 
yet  known,  and  recording  gems  of  poetry  and  elo- 
quence the  world  has  never  since  surpassed.  Then, 
looking  on  tabernacle  and  temple,  altar  and  laver, 
sacrifice  and  offering,  type  and  shadow,  you  pass  on 
through  conflicts  and  rebellions,  victories  and  defeats 
and  captivities,  look  on  sorrows  and  death  and  sin, 
then  look  on  Calvary  and  see  Jesus,  the  consumma- 
tion of  them  all  and  conqueror  of  sin  and  death! 
From  this  high  mount  of  vision  at  the  cross  the  line 
of  light  brightens  and  widens  and  the  glorious  prospect 
broadens,  but  still  the  scene  is  that  of  a  marching, 
battling  host.  But  now  it  is  a  more  mixed  multitude, 
for  many  from  other  tribes  and  tongues  of  earth  have 
joined  the  ranks  of  Christ's  Israel.  Faith  still  sees 
the  pillar  of  cloud  and  fire  above  them,  but  the  Red 
Sea  through  which  God's  chosen  have  many  times 
passed  in  the  last  eighteen  hundred  years,  has  been 
waves  of  flame  instead  of  water  on  either  hand,  and 
their  march  has  sometimes  been  through  a  desert  land. 


2IO  T'-iE  GOLDEN  POT. 

dry  and  parched  with  the  fires  of  hatred  and  perse- 
cution; yet  faith  still  drinks  from  that  spiritual  Rock 
and  finds  heavenly  manna  in  the  dew  of  every  morn- 
ing. Through  flame  and  flood  and  battle  field  and 
wilderness  Christ's  host  has  marched  up  to  the  present 
moment,  and  from  the  watch  tower  of  the  Church 
can  be  seen  all  the  greatness  of  the  conflict  and  the 
trials  and  triumphs  and  heroism  and  glory  of  the  past; 
and  however  it  may  appear  to  the  eye  of  human  reason 
and  unbelief,  it  has  been  a  victory,  and  a  glorious  vic- 
tory for  Christ.  But,  standing  on  the  Church's  mount 
of  vision,  take  the  telescope  of  prophetic  revelation, 
and  you  can  see  a  prospect  more  transcendently  glo- 
rious far.  Prophecy  is  but  veritable  history  antici- 
pated; it  tells  what  the  truthful  records  will  contain 
when  written.  And  what  a  scene  of  glory  appears  to 
the  eye  of  faith.  The  mountain  of  the  Lord's  house 
established  above  the  mountains  and  all  nations  flow- 
ing into  it ;  peace  v/ithin  her  walls  and  prosperity  within 
her  palaces;  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  covering  the 
earth  as  the  waters  do  the  channels  of  the  great  deep; 
the  camels  and  dromedaries  of  Midian  and  Epha  and 
Sheba  gathering  to  her  temples;  the  gold  and  incense 
of  earth  given  to  the  praise  of  the  Lord,  and  the  herds 
of  Kedar  and  the  flocks  of  Nebaioth  given  to  the 
Lord's  altars,  and  Egypt  stretching  out  her  hands  to 
God.  When  violence  shall  be  no  more  heard  in  her 
streets,  nor  wasting  in  her  borders,  and  nothing  shall 
hurt  nor  destroy  in  the  holy  mountain;  when  Zion's 
sun  shall  no  more  go  down,  nor  the  moon  withdraw 
itself,  but  the  Lord  shall  be  her  everlasting  light  and 
the  days  of  her  mourning  shall  be  ended! 

We  do  not  yet  say,  "There  is  no  more  sea,"  no  more 
wilderness  way  before  the  Church,  no  more  desert  and 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  211 

barren  lands,  red  fields  and  redder  fires  to  pass  through 
— prophecy  by  no  means  tells  us  this.  We  are  in- 
clined to  the  opinion  that  the  Church  has  yet  a 
troubled  sea  of  deep  waters  opening  before  her  and 
fearful  fires  yet  to  endure;  but  from  the  mount  of 
vision  Christ  presents  to  the  eye  of  faith,  in  the  not 
very  distant  future,  enough  to  support  the  faithful, 
toiling,  battling  soldier  on  the  march.  Whatever  dis- 
couragements may  appear  to  the  timid  or  anxious 
or  impatient  or  weary  watchers,  surely  there  are  signs 
of  His  day  drawing  near.  Famishing  Persia  is  feeding 
on  Christian  bread  and  the  bread  of  life ;  starving  India 
is  listening  to  Christ  and  eating  of  Christian  bounty; 
in  China,  Jesus  is  becoming  better  known  than  Con- 
fucius; in  Japan,  men  and  women  are  hearing  the 
Gospel  in  their  own  tongue  and  their  own  schools; 
Egypt,  long  stripped  naked  and  trodden  upon,  accepts 
Israel's  deliverer;  Africa  is  opened  up  from  Cape 
Colony  to  Nyannyan,  and  the  supposed  ruin  of  the 
Queen  of  Sheba's  palace,  Madagascar,  is  a  Christian 
kingdom ;  the  missionary  ship  is  skirting  every  coast 
and  all  the  isles  of  the  sea  are  waiting  for  the  law  of 
the  Lord.  Many  millions  of  earth  who  had  long  sat 
in  the  region  and  shadow  of  death,  have  seen  a  great 
light,  and  in  many  lands  sighs  have  changed  into 
songs.  Lo!  along  the  mountain  tops  the  light  is 
breaking,  grey  streaks  of  dawn  are  streaming  along 
the  horizon,  and  in  the  morning  twilight  is  seen  the 
Gospel  angel  in  his  flight  over  all  the  earth.  The 
banner  of  redeeming  love  is  unfurled  from  the  battle- 
ments of  heaven  in  the  sight  of  all  nations!  The  day 
is  coming,  the  night  shadows  are  fleeing  away;  His 
chariot  wheels  are  heard  nearer  and  nearer;  the  great 
day  approaches  when  "all  ends  of  the  earth  shall  see 


212  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

the  salvation  of  our  God,"  and  the  people  of  every  land 
and  the  isles  of  the  sea  shall  take  up  a  song  of  triumph, 
and  the  voice  of  a  great  multitude,  as  the  sound  of 
many  waters,  and  the  voice  of  mighty  thunderings, 
shall  shake  the  earth  with  the  victorious  anthem, 
"Alleluia,  the  Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth!" 

From  the  beautiful  situation  of  the  Lord's  Church, 
in  the  path  of  prophetic  revelation,  the  eye  of  faith 
catches  beams  from  the  day  of  glory  to  cheer  the 
heart  while  waiting  for  King  Solomon's  royal  chariot 
that  is  paved  with  love  for  the  daughters  of  Jerusalem. 
The  situation  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  is  far  more 
beautiful  in  every  way  than  the  situation  of  ancient 
Zion  and  Jerusalem.  Where  else  beneath  the  sun 
can  you  find  a  position  of  observation  that  will  com- 
mand such  a  wide  view  of  the  past,  present  andJuture 
condition  of  the  human  race?  She  is  placed  in  a  focal 
light,  the  rays  from  the  most  distant  past  and  the 
beams  of  prophecy  and  promise  sent  out  from  the 
throne  of  eternal  day  meet  in  her  dwelling  place,  and 
the  telescope  placed  to  her  eye  sweeps  a  more  distant 
and  wider  field  onward  and  upward  than  any  other  in- 
strument that  ever  looked  into  the  starry  firmament 
of  night.  This  vantage  ground,  this  beauty  of  situa- 
tion, Jesus'  Church  will  continue  to  occupy  while 
waiting  for  her  departed  King,  till  He  comes  again; 
then  from  before  His  face  the  corrupt  world  and  pol- 
luted air  of  earth  will  flee  away  and  no  place  be  found 
for  them.  Then  shall  His  glorified  Church  take  her 
situation  of  peerless  and  unfading  beauty.  Then 
shall  darkness  and  gloom  and  sin  flee  away  forever, 
and  the  Church,  rising  and  shaking  herself  from  the 
dust,  shaking  off  the  bands  from  her  neck,  shall  put 
on  her  beautiful  garments  and  sit  down    within    the 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  213 

pearly  walls  of  the  new  Jerusalem,  and  upon  the 
mountain  summit  of  the  heavenly  Zion,  her  situation 
of  beauty  and  glory  forever.  Not  only  is  she  "beau- 
tiful for  situation  now,  but  she  is  the  joy  of  the  whole 
earth." 


XIII. 
Success  in  Life. 

^^ If  any  man  serve  Me,  him  will  My  Father  honor, ^''  John  xii:  z6. 

We  will  suppose  a  young  man  on  the  threshold  of 
active  life,  standing  in  his  first  footsteps  on  the  arena, 
where  the  worth  of  his  future  years  is  to  be  shown,  and 
suppose  he  might  ask  himself  this  question:  "Can  I 
take  the  high,  unbending,  pure  principles  of  right  and 
integrity  which  Christ  taught  and  exemplified  as  the 
law  of  my  life,  and  practice  them  with  unswerving 
fidelity  always  and  everywhere  and  succeed?     Can  I 
apply  them  in  any  and  every  department  of  business 
life  and  succeed?     Can  I  carry  them  out  in  public  life? 
In  fidelity  to  them,  can  I  do  the  duty  of  a  citizen, 
a  legislator  or  a  statesman?"     Many  young  men,   I 
fear,  if,  in  the  start,  they  ask  themselves  this  ques- 
tion, are  inclined  to  answer  it  in  the  negative,  and  say, 
No;  it  is  no  use;  it  is  impossible  to  carry  these  unyield- 
ing principles  of  rectitude  into  business  and  political 
life.     To  never  speak  anything  but  the  exact  truth, 
to   never  act  anything  but   strict   honesty,   to   never 
practice  anything  but  fair  and  open  candor,  that  will 
never  do!     You  will  be  taken  advantage  of  and  out- 
stripped by  every  rogue  you  have  to  compete  with. 
And  the  idea  of  carrying  these  pure,  transparent  prin- 
ciples of  Christ's  teaching  into  political  life,  into  official 
position  and  duties,  and  succeeding,  is  preposterous, 
it  cannot  be  done!     What  we  propose  to  show  is  that 
it  can  be  done,  has  been  done  with  eminent  success, 
and  the  highest  honor.     If  the  negative  answer  to  this 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  21$ 

question  be  true,  correct,  then  there  must  be  a  flaw,  a 
defect,  either  in  the  law  of  God,  the  precepts  of  Christ, 
or  in  the  business  pursuits  you  propose  to  enter.  It  is 
a  principle  which  Christ  Himself  lays  down,  "By  their 
fruits  ye  shall  know  them."  By  this  you  are  war- 
ranted to  test  every  law  and  principle  laid  down  for 
the  government  of  life;  the  teachings  of  Christ  as 
well  as  of  men  are  to  be  submitted  to  this  test.  Put 
the  law,  the  principle,  in  practice,  and  if  the  result, 
the  fruit,  is  not  good,  then  the  principle,  the  law,  is 
not  right,  "for  a  good  tree  cannot  bring  forth  evil 
fruit."  The  religion  of  Christ  claims  to  lay  down 
the  correct  principles  for  a  life,  not  only  in  heaven, 
but  especially  on  earth,  and  if  the  application,  the 
practice  of  His  precepts,  His  law  on  earth,  in  the 
service  and  duties  of  this  life,  bring  upon  a  man  failure 
and  dishonor,  then,  according  to  his  own  test,  they 
are  false  and  wrong!     Are  they?     Let  us  try  them. 

First,  what  is  it  to  serve  Christ  in  active,  every-day 
life?  It  is  consciously,  designedly,  professedly  to 
accept  the  principles  of  truth  and  uprightness  Christ 
has  laid  down  for  the  government  of  life,  and  to  prac- 
tice them  in  order  that  He  may  have  the  honor  of  such 
an  application  of  them.  If  you  truly  and  faithfully 
apply  Christ's  doctrine  in  life,  and  the  result  is  dis- 
honor, it  must  be  dishonor  to  Him.  If  the  result  is 
honor,  it  must  be  honor  to  Him.  And  the  man  who 
accepts  and  applies  the  teachings  of  Christ  in  every 
relation  and  duty  of  life,  that  he  may  honor  Him, 
whether  he  act  in  business  or  political  duties,  does 
serve  Christ:  and  the  promise  is,  such  an  one  the 
Father  will  honor  both  in  this  life  and  that  which  is 
to  come.  Now,  what  are  the  principles  and  precepts 
Christ  gives  to  practice  between  man  and  man  in 


2i6  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

every  relation  of  life,  and  can  they  be  applied  with 
honor  and  success?  But  what  do  we  mean  by  suc- 
cess? Is  mere  possession  and  position  success?  If 
a  man,  along  with  a  seared  or  uneasy  conscience,  and 
empty,  unloving  heart  and  a  polluted  life,  becomes 
possessor  of  a  huge  mound  of  matter,  is  that  success? 
If,  with  loss  of  self-respect,  a  guilty  conscience  and  a 
bartered  soul,  he  can  sit  in  a  senate  or  on  a  throne, 
is  that  success?  With  every  fountain  of  the  heart's 
life  and  happiness  dried  up,  every  power  of  true 
pleasure  palsied,  the  soul  parched  with  continual 
thirst,  and  not  a  drop  to  drink,  is  this  with  any  pos- 
session and  position  success?  Call  not  anything  that 
destroys  self-respect,  chokes  or  drains  the  streams 
of  true  life  and  happiness,  or  disables  the  power  of  true 
enjoyment,  success.  The  principles  of  Christ  bring  a 
success  that  preserves  all  these.  We  are  not  now  to 
consider  the  relations  that  must  subsist  between  you 
individually  and  God  in  Christ,  although  I  know  that 
the  purity,  permanency  and  strength  of  the  human 
relations  fiow  from  and  are  secured  by  this  higher 
relation,  but  we  will  consider  for  the  present  only 
the  lower. 

The  first  principle  or  precept  we  will  name  which 
Christ  gives  to  practice  in  life  is  truthfulness — strict, 
invariable  veracity  in  every  relation  and  in  regard  to 
every  transaction.  That  whatever  you  say  in  regard 
to  any  transaction  or  thing  shall  be  the  plain  truth, 
according  to  the  knowledge  and  conviction  of  your 
own  soul.  This  principle  does  not  require  you  to 
tell  all  you  know  to  be  true;  the  maxim  is  correct  that 
"the  truth  is  not  always  to  be  told,"  but  only  truth 
is  ever  to  be  told.  There  are  things  concerning  your 
fellow-man  you  have  no  right  to  know,  and  things 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  217 

relating  to  his  business  you  have  no  business  to  know. 
But  the  principle  requires  that  in  any  relations  or 
transactions  with  your  fellow-men,  whatever  you  da 
express  shall  be  the  plain,  entire  truth,  and  that  you 
shall  never  hide  the  truth  to  their  injury  and  to  your 
profit  by  their  injury.  Now,  cannot  this  principle  be 
practiced  with  success  and  honor?  Let  us  try  it  with 
the  young  man  who  wishes  to  get  into  business. 

James  applies  to  a  man  of  business  for  a  position. 
A  man  of  known  veracity  and  honor  testifies  to  the 
merchant:  "Sir,  you  may  rely  with  unshaken  confi- 
dence on  anything  James  says;  his  truthfulness  is  with 
him  a  principle  of  obedience  to  God,  His  Saviour,, 
and  he  will  not  swerve  a  jot  from  what  he  believes 
to  be  true,  and  would  lose  his  right  hand  rather  than 
deceive,  prevaricate  or  lie."  Do  you  think  this  re- 
commendation would  be  against  him?  Would  you 
expect  the  business  man  to  say,  "Well,  sir,  I  guess 
that  principle  cannot  be  applied  successfully  in  my 
store,  or  shop;  I  think  it  might  be  better  for  him  to- 
lie  a  little  occasionally?"  You  would  never  expect 
an  intelligent  business  man  to  say  anything  of  the 
kind.  Suppose  the  recommendation  ran  in  this  way: 
"James  is  intelligent  and  smart  in  your  business,  and 
knows  how  to  tell  the  truth,  but  he  is  no  Puritan; 
if  it  is  necessary,  he  is  cunning  enough  to  hide  the 
truth,  deceive  and  prevaricate;  to  be  plain,  if  it  is 
profitable  or  necessary  in  a  bargain,  he  can  lie."  Out 
of  regard  to  his  own  interest,  would  not  the  employer 
be  apt  to  say,  "No,  sir,  I  don't  want  him;  I  want  a 
man  I  can  depend  on."  But  if  this  merchant  was  base 
and  foolish  enough  to  think  he  might  buy  truthfulness, 
he  might  ask,  "How  high  does  James  rate  his  truthful- 
ness?    I  may  not  be  able  to  pay  for  it.     If  for  ten  dol- 


2l8  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

lars  he  will  lie  for  me,  perhaps  for  twenty  dollars  he 
will  lie  against  me!"  A  Quaker  met  a  man  on  the 
street  with  a  load  of  w^ood.  "Will  thee  deliver  this 
load  at  my  house  for  three  dollars?"  "Yes,  sir."  The 
wood  did  not  come.  The  Quaker,  meeting  the  man 
again,  says:  "Why  did  thee  not  deliver  me  that  load 
of  wood?"  "I  met  another  man  who  offered  me  three 
dollars  and  fifty  cents."  "So  thee  values  thy  truth- 
fulness at  fifty  cents?  Well,  thee  rates  thy  word  at 
all  it  is  worth."  Do  you  suppose  any  business  man 
wants  untruthfulness  toward  himself  in  his  employees? 
No,  indeed.  If  he  is  base  enough  to  want  them  to  lie 
for  him  he  will  not  have  them  to  lie  to  him,  thus 
admitting  that  truthfulness  is  necessary  to  carry  on 
business.  Be  assured,  my  young  friends,  if  any  em- 
ployer winks  at  or  tolerates  prevarication,  deceit  or 
lying  in  an  employee,  the  lying  must  all  be  in  his 
interest.  If  he  finds  the  lying  is  against  him,  he  will 
soon  dismiss  you,  as  unsafe  to  him.  Every  intelligent 
business  man  into  whose  employ  it  is  safe  to  enter, 
regards  the  most  unbending  truthfulness  as  the  very 
highest  recommendation,  and  if  he  learns  this  truth- 
fulness is  not  only  an  expediency,  a  policy,  but  a  heart- 
principle,  flowing  from  the  high,  pure  mountain  source 
of  honor  and  service  to  the  Lord,  its  value  is  above 
all  price.  But  suppose  James  goes  into  business  for 
liimself,  with  strict,  entire  truthfulness  as  a  heart- 
principle,  will  that  be  any  barrier  to  his  securing 
customers?  Suppose  it  can  be  said  of  him,  if  you 
go  to  that  house  you  may  depend  without  question 
on  what  the  proprietor  tells  you.  He  will  tell  you  just 
what  he  believes  to  be  the  character  of  his  goods, 
what  the  fair  price  is  plainly;  in  no  matter  will  he 
deceive  you,  or  prevaricate  in  the  least.     He  is  a  man 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  219 

of  entire  truthfulness  from  principle.  Do  you  think 
people  would  say,  "'I  don't  want  to  trade  with  such  a 
man;  I  would  rather  he  would  lie  a  little  to  me."  You 
know  this  would  not  draw  desirable  customers;  you 
know  the  principle  of  truthfulness  as  taught  by  Christ, 
and  in  obedience  to  Him,  so  far  from  being  a  hin- 
drance, is  the  highest  possible  commendation  in  secur- 
ing employment  and  doing  business  to  honorable 
success. 

Another  principle  Christ  teaches  for  the  guide  of 
life  in  all  relations  with  men  is  honesty,  entire,  un- 
bending integrity  under  every  responsibility.  This  is 
so  essential  to  truthfulness,  so  inseparably  allied  to 
it,  that  it  is  difficult  to  make  a  distinction.  Yet  you 
all  understand  what  it  is;  a  heart-principle  that  causes 
a  man  to  regard  every  trust  committed  to  him  as  most 
sacred.  Mr.  Colvin  was  entrusted  with  the  funds  of 
the  company  of  which  he  was  treasurer;  he  drew  out 
ten  thousand  dollars  and  speculated  in  stocks,  making 
twenty  thousand  dollars ;  he  replaced  the  ten  thousand 
dollars  and  the  company  knew  nothing  of  it.  Mr. 
Hayvvood  was  treasurer  of  a  company,  took  money 
from  the  fund,  speculated,  lost  it  all,  was  discovered, 
and  sent  to  prison  for  embezzlement.  But  Mr.  Col- 
vin was  just  as  much  a  rascal  and  a  thief  as  Mr.  Hay- 
wood; neither  of  them  had  the  principle  of  honesty, 
of  integrity.  But  suppose  it  can  be  said  of  a  young 
man:  "You  can  trust  him  with  the  key  of  your  safe, 
with  your  bank  account,  with  anything  you  have,  and 
need  never  fear  his  fidelity.  His  honor  and  integrity 
is  from  a  principle  of  obedience  to  his  God;  he  will 
never  take  money  from  your  drawer  with  the  good 
intention  of  replacing  it  again;  he  will  never  draw 
on  your  account,  intending  to  deposit  next  day;  he 


220  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

will  never  make  a  false  entry,  designing  to  correct  it 
when  he  is  in  luck;  he  never  gambles.  He  is  from 
principle  scrupulously  honest  and  conscientiously 
upright."  Would  such  a  character  be  a  barrier  to  a 
young  man  seeking  a  business  position?  Would  such 
a  principle  be  an  obstacle  to  business  success?  No! 
No!  it  is  preposterous  and  self-evidently  false  to  as- 
sume that  the  principles  of  strict  truthfulness  and 
unimpeachable  honor  and  integrity,  taught  by  Christ, 
are  not  practicable,  possible  and  successful  in  business 
life. 

Another  principle  taught  by  Christ  to  be  applied  in 
all  the  service  of  life  is  purity,  sobriety  and  temperance. 
Not  only  in  not  drinking  intoxicants  and  getting 
drunk,  but  in  all  the  pleasures,  recreations  and  labor 
of  life  to  so  regard  all  the  Divine  laws  of  mind  and 
body  as  to  put  and  keep  both  mind  and  body  in  the 
best  condition  for  service  and  enjoyment.  Is  this 
a  barrier  to  success  and  honor?  It  is  needless  to 
answer  this.  Every  one  knows  if  a  man  has  a  repu- 
tation for  gluttony,  sensuality  or  intemperance,  it 
would  be  impossible  for  him  to  secure  a  position  or 
succeed  in  any  honorable  business. 

Then  are  the  precepts  and  principles  of  strict,  un- 
varying truthfulness,  unswerving  honor  and  fidelity, 
piu'ity,  sobriety  and  temperance,  as  taught  by  and 
demianded  by  the  Lord  Jesus,  impossible  to  apply 
and  practice  in  public  life?  So  far  from  it,  these  very 
principles  and  virtues  are  the  only  foundation  upon 
v.-hich  a  safe  and  permanent  business  prosperit}-  and 
a  beneficent  public  life  can  be  built.  And  the  want 
of  these  virtues  practiced  with  unflinching  fidelity  has 
done  more  to  stop  spindles,  clog  wheels,  silence  forges, 
paralyze  enterprise,  cripple  and  crush  business,  darken 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  221 

ihe  nation's  hope  and  palsy  her  power,  than  all  mere 
material  influences  that  operate  on  the  globe.  Young 
man,  never  let  an  intelligent,  honest  man  hear  you 
^ay  you  cannot  practice  the  morality  of  Christ's  re- 
ligion in  business  and  public  life;  that  you  cannot 
be  a  Christian,  obey  Jesus  Christ  and  succeed,  for 
jour  own  heart  and  conscience  tell  you  it  is  untrue 
and  absurd.  Your  hearer  will  immediately  suspect 
your  character;  it  is  virtually  saying  the  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ  cannot  be  lived  without  failure  and  dis- 
honor; therefore,  His  religion  is  visionary  and  false. 
This  every  intelligent  man  knows  is  simply  an  ignorant 
slander  on  the  wise  and  holy  Saviour.  If  you  could 
possibly  find  a  man  the  most  perfect  embodiment  of 
the  precepts  and  principles  taught  by  Christ,  such  a 
man,  by  every  intelligent  employer,  would  be  the  most 
acceptable  as  an  employee,  by  every  intelligent,  up- 
right business  man  most  acceptable  as  a  partner,  by 
an  intelligent,  moral  community  most  trustingly 
patronized  in  business,  and,  if  in  public  life,  most  trusted 
.■and  honored  by  intelligent  and  virtuous  citizens.  His 
rectitude,  purity,  integrity  and  truthfulness,  combined 
with  talents,  would  insure  him  business  success  in  any 
pursuit  and  secure  him  position  and  honor  among 
his  fellow-men.  Some  of  you  may  be  ready  to  say, 
I  would  like  to  see  an  embodiment  of  all  the  Chris- 
tian virtues  run  for  an  oflice  in  the  political  arena  at 
the  present  day  and  see  what  his  doom  would  be! 
It  is  not  hard  to  tell  what  his  fate  would  likely  be. 
He  would  be  smirched  and  smutted  most  shamefully 
■and  foully,  and  the  whiter  he  was  the  more  dirt  and 
slime  would  be  slung  upon  him  and  the  fouler  the 
spots  w^ould  be  on  his  whiteness,  and  it  is  quite  possi- 
Tble  he  would  not  be  elected.     But  vou  would  not  vote 


222  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

against  him  because  of  his  virtues, would  you?  Would 
you  vote  against  him  because  he  was  truthful  and 
honest  and  pure  and  of  unbending  integrity?  Oh, 
no;  I  reckon  not.  Then  it  was  not  his  Christian 
virtues  lost  him  his  election,  was  it?  Then  don't 
accept  the  falsehood  that  the  Christian  virtues  cause 
any  failure  and  dishonor.  Why,  then,  was  he  not 
voted  for?  Two  reasons  are  sufficient.  Some,  per- 
haps a  large  number,  believed  the  shameless  false- 
hoods; believed  that  the  dirt  and  slime  spots  were 
part  of  the  man;  therefore  voted  against  the  spots, 
not  the  virtues.  Others  voted  against  him  simply 
because  they  were  blinded,  enslaved  partisans,  and 
he  was  not  of  their  party.  He  would  not  become  a 
dog  to  please  dogs,  or  a  wolf  to  please  wolves,  or  a 
sycophant  and  a  briber  to  conciliate  villains  and  rob- 
bers. He  would  not  barter  true  honor  for  the  empty 
name  of  honor,  yet  surely  his  Christian  virtues  did 
not  defeat  him,  for  all  say  they  would  not  vote  against 
him  because  he  v.'as  sober,  truthful  and  honest. 
Suppose  he  had  been  elected,  would  his  Christian 
precepts  and  principles  controlling  his  public  acts  be 
an  obstacle  to  his  successful  public  service?  Would 
it  make  him  a  failure  as  a  good  and  beneficent  legis- 
lator, statesman  or  executive?  Is  there  anything  in 
these  positions  and  duties  that  would  be  helped  by 
his  being  untruthful,  dishonest,  impure  and  unfaithful? 
Surely  not.  Then  all  these  virtues  might  be  practiced 
there?  But  some  young  man  says,  what  you  would 
accept  as  Christian  morality  and  virtue  has  not  suc- 
ceeded eminently  in  business  or  public  life,  but 
chicanery,  cunning  and  diplomacy  have!  Suppose 
that  were  true;  stealing  has  for  a  time  succeeded, 
therefore  stealing  is  right  and  necessary;  lying  has 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  223 

apparently  succeeded,  therefore  lying  is  right  and 
necessary;  fraud  and  dishonesty  have  seemed  to  pros- 
per, therefore  fraud  and  dishonesty  are  right  and 
necessary.  Would  you  accept  such  logic  and  such 
a  standard  of  morality?  You  must  if  you  insist  that 
the  standard  of  uprightness  brings  failure  and  dis- 
honor, for  there  is  no  middle  standard,  there  are  only 
degrees  of  distance  from  the  upright.  But  we  do 
most  confidently  deny  that  the  strictest  adherence 
to  Christian  principles  has  not  been  successful,  both 
in  business  and  political  life.  Leave  out  stock- 
jobbing, financial  and  commercial  gambling  schemes, 
and  the  whisky  business,  and  confine  examination 
to  legitimate,  honorable  business,  and  the  men  most 
eminent  in  success,  who  have  stood  at  the  head  of 
great  enterprises,  were  successful  and  were  so  pro- 
moted and  trusted  because  of  their  strength  in  at  least 
some  of  these  Christian  virtues.  And  many  of  the 
most  distinguished  in  State  service  attained  their 
position  and  honor  by  firm  adherence  to  at  least  one 
or  more  of  the  Christian  virtues.  We  do  not  say  they 
possessed  all  the  Christian  principles,  that  they  were 
perfect  embodiments  of  the  law  of  Christ,  but  we  say 
it  was  their  virtues  of  Christ-origin  that  gave  them 
success,  eminence,  honor  and  earthly  immortality. 
In  one  biography  of  A.  T.  Stewart  it  is  said,  if  any 
employee  was  known  to  misrepresent  any  piece  of 
goods  in  the  establishment  or  prevaricate  to  a  cus- 
tomer, he  was  summarily  dismissed.  Whatever  virtues 
Stewart  lacked,  it  is  admitted  by  those  who  knew  him 
best  that  his  colossal  fortune  was  built  on  business 
truthfulness  and  honesty.  Andrew  V.  Stout,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Shoe  and  Leather  Bank,  New  York,  was 
once    impoverished    by    generosity  in  endorsing  for 


^24 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


others,  but  he  came  out  of  the  trial  without  a  stain 
upon  his  reputation,  amassed  great  wealth  and  became 
as  distinguished  for  commercial  integrity  as  for  piety 
and  liberality.  Nathaniel  Ripley  Cobb,  of  Boston, 
never  accumulated  above  fifty  thousand,  because  all 
above  that  sum  he  gave  away,  and  during  his  life  time 
gave  away  more  than  five  times  his  accumulated  wealth, 
lived  and  died  honored  for  piety,  truthfulness  and 
integrity.  The  Harper  Brothers,  of  New  York,  have 
<done  a  prosperous  business  for  more  than  fifty  years 
by  the  strictest  adherence  to  Christian  principles. 
Were  not  R.  L.  Stuart  and  William  E.  Dodge  success- 
ful? Is  there  any  suspicion  that  they  departed  from 
Christian  integrity?  Did  time  permit,  we  might  refer 
to  George  Peabody,  Edward  Colston,  Peter  Cooper, 
.and  others  too  numerous  to  mention.  I  repeat,  young 
man,  never  let  an  intelligent  and  honorable  man  hear 
you  say  you  cannot  practice  Christian  integrity  in 
business  if  you  would  not  degrade  your  reputation. 
And  when,  in  political  life,  one  single  Christian  prin- 
ciple, tenaciously  held  and  lived,  has  lifted  more  men 
into  worthy  success,  eminence  and  enduring  honor 
than  ever  did  the  devil's  diplomacy.  Charles  Sumner 
did  not  by  any  means  embody  all  Christian  principles, 
but  he  did  hold,  even  to  martyrdom,  one  Christ-taught 
principle;  that  was,  unswerving  fidelity  to  his  con- 
victions of  the  true  and  the  right  toward  his  fellow- 
men.  Not  classical  scholarship  or  Grecian  eloquence, 
but  truthful,  fearless  fidelity  to  justice  and  human 
freedom  wove  the  garland  of  earthly  immortality  for 
the  head  of  Charles  Sumner.  Daniel  Webster's  forty 
years  of  peerless  statesmanship,  regal  intellectual 
■attainments  and  treasures,  and  masterful,  triumphant 
•oratory,  were  all  sadly  tarnished  by  one  single  act 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  225 

against  the  principle  of  Divine  justice  and  human  right. 

"The  light  withdrawn 
Which  once  he  wore! 
The  glory  from  his  gray  hairs  gone 
Forevermore!" 

Neither  learning,  eloquence,  wealth  nor  craft  car- 
ried Abraham  Lincoln  into  the  highest  seat  in  the 
Republic,  but  the  pronomen  of  "honest,"  better  than 
knighthood  or  any  title  of  nobility,  "honest Abraham!" 
His  simple,  unswerving  integrity  and  transparent 
purity  of  purpose  made  the  luminous  glory  of  his 
life.  The  success  of  Garfield  was  unquestioned,  yet  the 
slime  of  falsehood  and  fraud  never  stained  his  career 
from  the  tow-path  to  the  presidency,  and  his  death-bed 
by  the  sea.  He  lived  and  died  a  Christian.  To  these 
few  specimen  personages  we  might  add  the  unnum- 
bered names  of  the  great,  who  have  been  the  good 
and  the  great  of  earth  only  by  the  power  of  one  or 
more  of  the  Christ-taught  principles,  maintained  and 
exemplified,  which  gave  distinction  and  honor  to 
their  names  and  memory. 

And  the  principles  of  a  Christian  life  are  not  im- 
practicable or  incompatible  even  in  the  life  of  a  soldier. 
Although  war  seems  in  every  phase  so  diametrically 
opposite  in  spirit  to  Christianity,  William  of  Nassau, 
Prince  of  Orange,  carried  with  distinguishing  pre- 
eminence truthfulness  and  honor  through  the  temp- 
tations of  princely  wealth,  through  defeat,  misfortune 
and  comparative  poverty,  and  carried  Christian  princi- 
ples through  almost  a  life-time  of  relentless,  desolating 
warfare,  carried  them  firmly  to  his  death-bed  of 
assassination  and  martyrdom.  General  Washington, 
Colonel   Gardiner,   General   Havelock    and    General 


226  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

Oliver  O.  Howard,  were  not  more  distinguished  for 
soldierly  bearing  and  bravery  than  for  piety  and 
Christian  integrity. 

My  young  friends,  there  is  no  place  on  earth  where 
God  would  have  you  employ  the  powers  He  has  given 
you  that  the  principles  of  His  Word  cannot  be  prac- 
ticed with  the  best  hope  of  success  and  honor.  Of 
Christian  truth  and  purity  the  Lord  says:  "Exalt  her 
and  she  will  promote  thee,  she  shall  bring  thee  to 
honor  when  thou  dost  embrace  her.  She  shall  give 
thine  head  an  ornament  of  grace,  a  crown  of  glory 
shall  she  deliver  to  thee."  God  declares,  "Them  that 
honor  Me  I  wall  honor." 

This  service  of  Christ  has  some  specific  advantages 
that  ought  to  be  noticed.  First,  he  who  thus  serves 
Christ  has  but  one  master.  He  who  tries  to  please 
himself  has  a  hard  master  and  always  fails,  but  he  who 
seeks  success  and  honor  by  pleasing  and  placating 
the  w'orld  serves  a  hundred  masters  and  pleases  none, 
and  must  turn  and  twist  and  wriggle  and  distort  and 
torture  his  life  through  most  tortuous  ways  and  be- 
come a  shrinking  coward  and  slave.  But  he  who 
serves  Christ  serves  but  one  Master,  and  He  supreme. 
Second.  He  serves  an  easy  and  gracious  Master.  I 
do  not  mean  He  is  lenient  and  easy  to  self-will  and 
willful  disobedience.  He  must  have  the  heart  and 
the  surrendered  will,  but  having  these  He  is  not  hard 
and  implacable,  but  most  gracious  to  infirmities,  ig- 
norance, faults  and  the  failures  of  love.  When  the 
intention  is  good  and  sincere,  but  the  means  mistaken 
and  the  end  an  error.  He  graciously  takes  the  will  for 
the  deed  and  pities  our  frailties.  But  he  who  serves 
the  world  must  remember  it  makes  no  provision  for 
mistakes  nor  mercy  for  failures.     Napoleon  told  his 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


227 


officers  that  "a  blunder  was  worse    than    a    crime." 
This  expresses  not  the  mind  of  Christ,  but  the  spirit 
of  the  world's  mastery.     Third.  He  who  serves  Christ 
has  a  straightforward  and  plainly  expressed  law  of 
life.     There   is   nothing-  written   in   human   language 
so  plain  and  easy  of  application  as  the  life-governing 
principles  of  God's  law;  so  it  is  literally  true  "a  way- 
faring man,  though  a  fool,  need  not  err  therein."    But 
he  must  be  a  hard  and  diligent  student  who  would 
ever  learn  the  world's  many  maxims  so  as  to  success- 
fully apply  them,  or  be  able    to    follow    the    devil's 
diplomacy,  that  has  more  windings  than  the  Egyp- 
tian   labyrinth.     These    are    considerations  of  great 
moment  in  the  making  of  your  life,  one  supreme  mas- 
ter to  serve  and  an  easy  and  gracious  master,  and  a 
plain,  straight,  uniform  law  to  obey.     Now,  my  young 
friends,  you  have  before  you    these    two    places    of 
activity,  business  and  political   or  public  life.     Into 
both  you  must  enter  more  or  less  largely  and  be  more 
or  less  prominent  and  active.     You  must  either  be  a 
serving  laborer,  a  hewer  of  wood  and  a  drawer  of 
water,  or  enter  agricultural,  commercial  or  mechanical 
pursuits,   or   public   or   professional   life,    unless   you 
intend  to  be  a  tramp,  a  vagabond,  a  gambler,  or  a 
cracksman ;  in  that  case  you  need  no  guiding  principle. 
But  if  you  are  to  be  men  and  citizens,  you  must 
have  some  business  pursuit,   some  life   employment. 
And  it  is  your  privilege  and  right,  nay,  I  will  say.  your 
duty,  to  apply  your  powers  and  talents  energetically 
and  honorably  to  acquire  wealth    and    power.     The 
possession  of  wealth,  so  far  from  being  a  sin  or  an  evil, 
has  often  been  the  gift  of  God  to  men.  through  the 
hand  of  industry,  genius,  business  tact,  skill  and  talent, 
and  God  requires  and  commends  "the  hand  of  the 


228  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

diligent,  that  maketh  rich."  But  its  possession  is  a 
trust,  a  stewardship,  a  power  for  the  honor  of  God  in 
the  hands  of  the  possessor,  in  promoting  the  welfare 
of  humanity.  God  gave  this  gift  and  power  to  Abra- 
ham, to  Job,  to  Solomon,  and  to  many  others.  To 
seek  this  power  to  be  used  for  God  and  man  is  not 
only  right,  but  a  duty.  Yet  in  whatever  channel  you 
seek  it,  let  it  be  therein  the  service  of  Christ.  Take 
the  principles  of  righteousness  and  integrity  He  has 
given  you,  and  maintain  them  with  unswerving  fidelity. 
Apply  them  in  your  transactions  and  commercial  rela- 
tions with  men,  in  all  the  trials  and  temptations,  in 
all  the  successes  and  reverses  of  business  life.  Prac- 
tice them  with  the  strictest  faithfulness  and  conscien- 
tiousness, and  fear  no  failure.  If  you  fail  because  of 
fidelity  to  Christ's  teachings,  the  failure  and  dishonor 
are  His,  not  yours,  and  your  success  is  the  vindication 
of  His  precepts  and  honor,  and  the  promise  is.  His 
Father  will  honor  you.  Never  for  a  moment  entertain 
the  thought  of  abandoning,  or  even  relaxing  the  rigor 
of  Christ-taught  principles  for  an  apparent  present 
advantage.  The  issue  will  prove  your  safety  is  in 
adhering  to  them,  and  you  will  never  lose  by  handling 
them;  your  success  comes  from  God,  your  honor  is  in 
His  hand,  therefore  the  coronation  of  faithfulness  shall 
never  fail. 

Another  field  in  which  you  should  be  an  interested 
actor,  young  man,  is  that  of  politics.  You  may,  if 
you  please,  call  it  the  field  of  patriotism.  It  is  not 
only  your  right  and  privilege  to  act  in  this  field, 
but  your  patriotic  and  Christian  duty.  You  can 
here  serve  Christ;  apply,  maintain  and  exemplify 
His  principles  of  truth  and  righteousness.  I  know 
it  is  said  politics  is  nothing  but  a  partisan  strife,  a 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  229 

scene  of  pot-house  brawls,  a  broker's  office,  where 
money  is  exchanged  for  voters;  its  ends  are  attained 
only  by  wire  pulhng,  chicanery,  fraud  and  strife. 
And  to  go  to  Harrisburg  or  Washington  City  is 
thought  to  be  extremely  perilous  to  morals,  scarcely 
less  dangerous  than  the  capital  of  his  Satanic  majesty! 
One  is  sometimes  heard  to  exclaim,  Politics  is  an  un- 
clean thing,  from  which  one  must  separate,  scarcely 
touch  at  all  if  he  hopes  to  be  a  Christian;  with  which 
religion  cannot  be  mixed  in  the  smallest  quantity! 
Is  this  true?  Far  from  it.  This  is  not  politics  at  all; 
it  is  greedy  gambling,  selfish,  Satanic  partisanism,  that 
every  patriot  and  Christian  should  scorn.  Webster 
gives  the  correct  definition  of  politics;  he  says,  "It  is 
the  science  of  government,  that  part  of  ethics  or  moral 
principles  which  relates  to  the  regulation  or  govern- 
ment of  a  State,  for  the  preservation  of  its  safety, 
peace  and  prosperity."  It  is  to  devise,  establish  and 
execute  wise  and  righteous  measures  for  the  govern- 
ment of  men,  to  regulate  and  guide  the  economy  of 
a  nation;  to  suppress  and  punish  crime,  to  encourage 
and  reward  virtue,  to  guard  and  defend  all  the  benevo- 
lent interests  of  humanity,  to  exterminate  tyranny  and 
secure  civil  and  religious  liberty  to  man.  This  is  the 
business  of  politics,  a  profession  in  which  the  highest 
morality  can  be  nurtured  and  the  purest  principles 
of  Christian  life  should  enter;  a  work  only  second  in 
importance  to  the  ministry  of  reconciliation.  You 
may  organize  your  "Hundred"  committees,  pass  the 
Bullitt  bill,  cry  "Reform"  and  try  every  other  device, 
there  will  be  no  reform,  either  in  your  municipal  or 
national  government,  until  patriotic  and  Christian  men 
are  willing  to  learn  and  do  their  duty  as  citizens  of 
a  republic.    When  I  say  it  is  your  duty  to  be  interested 


230  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

and  active  in  political  service,  I  do  not  mean  it  is  your 
duty  to  seek  some  official  position;  it  is  not  the  duty 
of  every  citizen,  even  in  the  United  States,  to  have 
an  office;  but  I  do  mean  you  should  be  deeply  inter- 
ested in  every  movement  or  policy  that  touches  the 
rights  of  humanity,  or  in  any  way  effects  the  financial, 
commercial,  educational  or  moral  character,  prosperity 
or  peace  of  your  State,  or  the  nation.  You  ought  to 
so  inform  yourself  in  political  science,  economy,  his- 
tory and  the  principles  of  administration  that  you 
could  intelligently  judge  men  and  measures  at  some- 
thing like  their  true  worth.  Then  let  your  ballot 
execute  an  honest,  intelligent  freeman's  will.  Use 
this  power  of  a  freeman  as  a  valued  right — a  right 
that  cost  your  ancestry  many  a  perilous  revolution, 
much  bloodshed  and  martyrdom.  By  the  possession 
of  this  power  you  become  to  a  certain  degree  a  trustee 
of  the  public  welfare. 

If  by  your  neglect  to  rightly  use  this  power  cor- 
rupt and  designing  men  attain  to  office,  and  through 
want  of  proper  legislation  or  the  enactment  of  un- 
just and  hurtful  measures,  the  State  or  national  peace 
is  destroyed  or  imperilled,  the  guilt  and  crime  is,  in  a 
large  measure,  yours.  That  young  man  is  unworthy 
of  citizenship  in  this  Republic  who  knows  nothing 
about  and  cares  nothing  for  political  affairs.  The 
man  who  says  he  is  too  pure  to  take  part  in  politics 
is  only  too  pure  to  serve  God  and  man,  or  too  much 
of  a  selfish  simpleton  to  be  fit  to  serve  either.  For 
another  reason,  young  men,  you  should  with  the 
purest  Christian  patriotism  take  a  deep  interest  in 
political  affairs— because  soon  you  will  come  into  all 
the  privileges,  blessings,  powers  and  honors  of  this 
unexampled    republic   as  your  inheritance.     An    in- 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  23 1 

heritance  of  constitutional  liberty  and  all  the  rights 
and  powers  of  legal  freedom ;  an  inheritance  of  educa- 
tional opportunities  to  give  the  best  development  to 
the  mind  and  heart  of  millions;  an  inheritance  of  se- 
cured life,  property,  and  homes;  an  inheritance  of 
fruitful  fields,  mines  of  wealth,  navigable  rivers,  free 
lakes  and  seas,  unsurpassed  by  any  people  on  earth; 
an  inheritance  of  religious  liberty  that  leaves  the 
■conscience  and  heart  constrained  by  no  power  but 
the  love  of  God.  This  is  a  valuable  inheritance  if 
measured  by  what  it  cost  your  fathers  and  fore-fathers. 
On  the  other  side  the  seas,  they  dared  the  rack,  the 
stake,  the  gibbet  and  scaffold  and  paid  uncounted 
treasure  and  life  for  your  legacy.  On  this  side  your 
forefathers  laid  down  as  a  price  all  the  fruits  of  years 
of  hard  toil,  endured  pinching  poverty,  stained  the 
snow  with  bleeding,  freezing,  almost  naked  feet  on 
the  march,  and  left  their  bones  along  all  the  rivers 
and  mountains  of  your  eastern  and  southern  land. 
Again,  when  your  inheritance  of  freedom's  best  bless- 
ings were  in  peril,  your  brothers  and  fathers  weighed 
in  the  balance  as  a  price  the  fruits  of  their  toil  and 
gave  the  young,  the  strong,  the  bravest  and  best  of 
their  sons  to  the  sacrifice,  whose  bodies  in  places 
known  and  unknown,  buried  and  unburied,  make  hal- 
lowed ground  along  almost  every  southern  stream 
and  mountain  side.  They  gave  billions  of  wealth  and 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  human  lives  that  vour  in- 
heritance  might  not  be  parceled  out  among  a  succes- 
sion of  petty  despots.  Now,  is  it  not  a  duty  in  which 
yoTi  can  serve  God  and  humanity  to  care  that  corrupt 
and  designing  trustees  do  not  mortgage  and  squander 
your  inheritance  of  freedom's  privileges,  blessings, 
rights  and  powers,  and  bankrupt  your  fathers'  estate? 


232 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


Do  you  not  care  if  they  thrust  out  of  your  system  of 
education  the  only  standard  of  morals  that  can  teach 
your  citizens  to  know  and  love  truthfulness,  honesty 
and  integrity,  the  only  instruction  that  teaches  man 
to  love  his  Maker  and  his  fellow-men,  the  only  truth 
that  ever  has  given  to  the  human  heart  the  nerve  and 
courage  to  maintain  and  defend  the  rights  of  God  and 
the  freedom  of  man?  Take  these  life-principles  of 
Christianity  and  virtue  out  of  your  educational  system^ 
and  out  of  your  administrative  policy,  and  you  will 
leave  them  as  barren  and  hollow  as  English  Deism, 
German  infidelity,  or  French  atheism,  and  will  strip 
your  country  as  barren  of  glory  as  the  rocks  of  old 
Tyre  when  fishermen  spread  their  nets  there  to  dry. 
Young  men,  do  your  duty  as  citizens,  but  do  not 
for  one  moment  suppose  that  lying,  dishonesty  or 
craft  is  right  or  needful  here.  These  are  the  things 
that  are  putting  your  inheritance  in  peril  to-day. 
Take  the  principles  of  integrity  Christ  taught,  adhere 
to  them  unflinchingly;  you  will  best  serve  your  coun- 
try in  thus  serving  Christ  and  secure  your  own  honor. 
It  may  become  your  duty  to  accept  public  trust  and 
serve  God  and  your  country  in  public  position.  I 
believe  God  as  really  calls  men  to  civil  as  to  ecclesias- 
tical oflfice.  But  be  sure  to  take  Christ-taught  princi- 
ples of  purity  and  honor  into  these  duties,  if  you 
would  be  the  best  servants  of  God  and  your  fellow- 
men.  You  need  not  beg  and  scheme  for  the  call. 
If  it  is  of  God,  it  will  come  through  your  fitness  for 
the  position,  and  the  demand  of  your  country  for  your 
abilities  and  service.  But  to  gain  position  never 
cringe,  or  fawn,  or  bend  from  the  right  or  true.  Never 
become  a  villain  to  get  perpeti  ^ ,  peace  and  pros- 
perity, or  such  an  inheritance  for  yourselves  and  pos- 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  233, 

terity.     Suppose  a  young  man  was  heir  to  a  vast  and 
valuable  estate,  and  was  told  the  trustees  are  impov- 
erishing the  soil  by  an  exhaustive  and  ruinous  tillage; 
are  permitting  the  buildings  to  fall  into  decay;  are 
plastering  the  estate  all  over  with  mortgages,  and 
squandering  the  income,  so  by  the  time  you  come  into 
possession  it  will  be  utterly  bankrupt,  what  would  you 
think  to  hear  the  young  man  say,  "I  don't  care;  I 
take  no  interest  in  these  things;  let  them  attend  to 
that!"     And  should  you  not  care  whether  to  serve 
villains,  such  dishonor  is  a  poor  reward.     If  purity, 
integrity  and  honor  will  not  be  accepted,  then  accept 
the  unmeasured  honor  of  defeat.     Your  country  itself 
is  better  served  in  the  defeat  of  virtue  than  in  the 
promotion  of  fraud  and  vice  and    your    own    soul's 
purity.     Life  and  honor  are  worth  more  than  all  the 
empurpled  inheritance  of  this  great  republic.     Accept 
no  inauguration  unless  it  be  for  ability,  virtue  and 
worth.     Thus  serve  Christ  by  adhering  to  His  teach- 
ings and  spirit,  and  the  Father  will  honor  you.     If 
God  confers  no  other  honor  in  this  world  on  such 
a  servant,  He  will  confer  the  honor  of  deserved  self- 
respect,  and  this  is  a  high  and  enjoyable  honor.     He 
who  has  lost  his  self-respect  and  must  despise  and 
be  ashamed  of  himself,  is  a  pitiable  and  miserable 
wretch.     He  who,  by  sycophancy,  cunning,  fraud  and 
dishonor,  has  succeeded,  as  he  calls  it,  however  great 
the  wealth  he  may  have  gathered,  or  however  eminent 
the  station  he  may  occupy,  can  have  neither  enjoy- 
ment, peace  nor  honor.     But  he  who,  in  fidelity  to 
Christ-like  integrity  and  truth,  has  served,  though  he 
may  be  left  to  sit  in  obscurity,  unrewarded  of  men, 
God  will  garland  hif         1  with  the  honor  of  conscious 
self-respect  and  rectitude,  which  is  a  regal  coronet,. 


224  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

more  glorious  and  made  of  more  precious  stuff  than 
any  glittering  crown  on  the  brow  of  kings.  We  have 
said  nothing  of  the  crown  of  life  and  glory  beyond 
which  is  sure  to  every  one  who  serves  the  Saviour. 
But  the  words  of  Christ  are  literally  true  in  this  life, 
"If  any  man  serve  Me,  him  will  My  Father  honor." 
Then 

"Go  forth  in  the  battle  of  Hfe,  young  man, 

Go  while  it  is  called  to-day, 
For  the  years  go  out  and  the  years  come  in, 
Regardless  of  those  who  may  lose  or  win. 

Of  those  who  may  work  or  play. 

"Temptations  will  wait  by  the  way,  young  man; 

Temptations  without  and  within, 
And  spirits  of  evil  in  robes  as  fair 
As  the  holiest  angels  in  heaven  wear, 

Will  lure  you  to  deadly  sin. 

i 
"Then  put  on  the  armor  of  God,  young  man, 

In  the  beautiful  days  of  youth, 
Put  on  the  helmet,  the  breast-plate  and  shield. 
And  the  sword  the  feeblest  arm  may  wield 

In  the  cause  of  Right  and  Truth. 

"And  go  to  the  battle  of  life,  young  man, 

With  the  peace  of  the  Gospel  shod, 
And  before  high  heaven  do  the  best  you  can 
For  the  great  reward,  for  the  good  of  man, 
'For  the  kingdom  and  crown  of  God.'  " 

"For  the  kingdom  and  crown  of  God,"  young  man, 
and  your  own  crown  will  not  be  wanting  in  the  great 
Coronation  Day.  , 


XIV. 
"The  Great  Carpenter." 

"A  not  this  the  carpenter,  the  son  of  Mary  .?"  Mark  vi:  3. 

The  word  carpenter  here  used  is  from  the  Greek, 
tchton,  sometimes  translated  builder  or  one  working 
in  wood,  stone  or  iron,  an  artisan.  Therefore,  the 
opinion  of  Justin  Martyr  that  He  was  employed  chiefly 
in  making  yokes  and  plows,  gets  no  authority  from 
this  word  tckton.  He  might  have  been  a  brasier, 
a  stone  cutter,  or  a  carpenter  builder.  The  word  cer- 
tainly means  that  He  was  a  toiler  at  some  kind  of 
handicraft.  This  His  enemies  tried  to  make  a  re- 
proach, as  it  is  still  made  against  toilers  by  idleness 
and  worthless  pride.  Also,  this  fact  that  His  mother 
was  simply  Mary — not  Queen  Mary,  Lady  Mary  or 
Goddess  Mary,  but  just  plain  Mary — and  that  He 
was  just  a  plain  man,  without  nobility  of  name  or 
position.  So  He  was,  and  continues  to  be,  a  man — 
the  noblest  work  of  God  in  creation,  to  make  a  man, 
especially  such  a  man  as  the  first  Adam,  and  such  a 
man  as  Jesus,  the  second  Adam.  But  the  context 
shows  clearly  that  this  people  thought  He  assumed 
to  be,  if  He  did  not  positively  claim  to  be,  something 
above  a  plain,  ordinary  man,  claiming  to  be  something 
besides  a  man!  For  nearly  thirty  years  they  had  seen 
Him,  perhaps  daily,  laboring  at  His  business,  whatever 
it  was,  just  as  other  men,  nothing  different,  showing 
no  unusual  power  or  wisdom;  nothing  indicating  that 
He  was  any  more  than  others,  His  fellow-townsmen 
or    workmen.     But    now,   suddenly,   this   man,   who 


236  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

never  went  to  school,  who  had  no  position  among; 
scholars,  who  never  learned  anything  from  our  rabbis, 
presumes  to  interpret  our  ancient  and  profound  oracles 
and  prophets  with  an  authority  no  other  man  ever 
did,  and  to  claim  them  for  His  own,  and  to  apply  them 
to  Himself,  and  to  show  a  wisdom  and  miraculous 
power  that  is  amazing.  What  does  it  mean?  Is  He 
more  than  a  carpenter,  more  than  a  man?  Yes,  my 
hearers,  they  rightly  interpreted  His  words  and  actions 
as  claiming  that  He  was  a  Divine  man. 

As  I  am  going  to  talk  to  you  to-day  of  Him  as  a 
man  chiefly,  I  want  first  to  assure  you  that  I  believe 
Him  to  be,  and  trust  and  adore  Him,  as  a  Divine 
man,  "very  God  of  very  God!"  Look  at  this  fact: 
His  coming,  and  condition,  and  position,  and  charac- 
ter, and  life,  and  sufferings,  and  death,  and  resurrec- 
tion, were  all  portrayed  by  Moses,  the  Psalmist  and 
prophets  as  clearly  and  accurately  as  any  picture  of 
the  photographic  art  of  the  present  day  could  present 
a  human  face,  and  no  other  man,  from  Adam  down  to 
His  day,  met  the  demands  of  that  picture;  but  when 
He  came,  men  were  constrained  to  say,  "This  is  the 
original  of  the  foretold  Messiah  portrayed  by  the  He- 
brew prophets  and  seers,"  and  none,  from  His  day  down 
to  the  present,  has  ever  been  recognized  as  answering^ 
the  original  of  the  Lawgiver  and  Psalmist  and  pro- 
phets' picture.  For  two  thousand  years.  His  laws, 
precepts  and  wisdom  have  surpassed  the  wisdom  of 
the  wisest  men  of  earth,  and  His  life  has  been  admitted 
to  be  better  than  the  best,  the  perfect  life;  and  His 
power  over  the  hearts  and  lives  of  the  human  race  has 
excelled  that  of  all  sages,  philosophers,  teachers  and 
reformers.  This  Carpenter  of  Nazareth,  who  was  the 
disciple  of  no  earthly  teacher,  a  scholar  of  no  school 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  237 

of  the  learned,  is  the  only  teacher  that  speaks  with 
i.inquestioned  authority  among  the  largest  minds  and 
most  learned  scholars  of  the  race.  Yes,  my  hearers, 
the  proof  that  He  is  a  Divine  Man  is  in  every  age 
growing  clearer  and  clearer,  like  the  daylight  from 
dawn  to  meridian  splendor.  Therefore,  whatever  may 
be  said  to-day  of  His  actual,  genuine  manhood,  never 
forget  that  He  is  a  Divine  man.  But  some  object 
that  this  very  fact  unfits  Him  to  be  a  teaching  exam- 
ple to  ordinary  men,  because  His  Divine  nature  makes 
Him  so  extraordinary.  I  admit  we  cannot  explain  or 
comprehend  how  or  to  what  degree  the  Divine  nature 
affected  the  human  nature,  yet  from  God's  Word  and 
His  life  we  can  show  that  the  Divine  did  not  so  affect 
His  human  nature  as  to  make  Him  any  more  or  less 
than  man  as  man.  That  He  had  the  infirmities  and 
limitations  of  man,  in  hunger  and  weariness  and  sleep, 
and  limited  human  knowledge  and  growth;  that  He 
was  subjected  to  all  the  sorrows,  trials  and  temptations 
of  human  life;  a  man  like  other  men,  only  a  man  with- 
out sin,  a  full,  perfect  man,  measured  by  the  perfect 
Divine  law  of  life;  a  standard,  example  man  for  the 
race.  Merely  as  a  man,  leaving  out  of  consideration 
anything  more  Divine  than  is  found  in  any  other  or- 
•dinary  men,  He  was  physically,  intellectually,  morally 
and  spiritually  the  grandest  man  of  the  race.  In  vi- 
rility, fearless  courage,  firmness,  self-control  and  all 
that  goes  into  the  make-up  of  true,  strong  manhood. 
He  was  the  manliest  man  that  ever  lived  on  earth,  the 
only  true  model  for  men.  Paul  calls  Him  an  example. 
Himself  says:  "Follow  Me;  do  as  I  have  done,"  thus 
claiming  to  be  an  example.  Some  may  ask.  Did 
Jesus,  this  carpenter,  ever  know  what  it  was  to  be 
•out  of  work,  to  hunt  in  vain  for  employment,  to  have 


23S  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

nothing-  to  boil  the  pot  with  and  nothing  to  put  in 
the  pot  to  boil?  Did  this  Carpenter  ever  endure  a 
hard,  fault-finding  taskmaster?  Did  He  ever  feel 
as  if  every  bone  and  muscle  in  back  and  limbs  were 
aching  and  slowly  breaking  under  the  burden;  and, 
as  night  fell,  no  thanks  or  recognition  for  the  toil  and 
service,  but  grumbling,  and  perhaps  curses,  and  charge 
of  work  ill-done, and  pay  withheld,  and  wages  reduced? 
Did  this  Carpenter  of  Nazareth  ever  know  the  temp- 
tation to  strike  against  robbery  and  wrong?  Did  this 
Carpenter  ever  endure  the  sneer  and  contempt  of 
worthless  wealth,  and  pride  and  power?  If  I  answer, 
Yes,  you  may  say.  Give  us  the  instance,  the  time  and 
place.  This  I  cannot  do,  but  I  can  do  better.  The 
inspired  apostle  says:  "He  was  tempted  in  all  points 
as  we  are."  What  does  this  mean?  Surely  nothing 
less  than  it  literally  declares,  "All  points" — that  there 
is  no  condition  or  temptation  He  has  not  felt.  He 
tells  us  that  He  was  an  hungered  forty  days  and  forty 
nights,  then  tempted  to  get  bread  in  a  way  dishonoring 
to  God.  That  pride,  avarice  and  ambition  assaulted 
Him,  and  that  He  was  offered  the  world's  greatest 
bribes  of  wealth  and  power.  That  He  was  urged  to 
distrust  and  tempt  God  by  putting  Himself  in  needless 
peril,  and  casting  Himself  down  to  sure  death.  Thus 
He  was  tried,  just  as  many  a  toiler  has  since  been 
tempted,  to  get  bread  in  a  God-dishonoring  way;  just 
as  many  a  toiler  has  been  tempted  by  the  clamors  of 
ambition,  and  avarice,  and  the  world's  bribes  of  wealth 
and  place  and  power.  Just  as  many  a  toiler  since,  in 
his  desperation,  under  want  and  wrong,  has  been 
tempted  to  distrust  God  and  hurl  himself  over  a  preci- 
pice, that  only  insured  death — by  some  form  of 
suicide  to  show  his  distrust  of  God  and  thrust  himself 


"^  THE  GOLDEN  POT.  239 

unbidden  into  His  presence.  Jesus,  the  Carpenter, 
endured  and  overcame  all  these  temptations  for  the 
sake  of  those  who,  like  Himself,  are  the  toilers  and 
tempted  on  the  earth,  that  He  might  succor  those 
who  are  afflicted.  Remember,  He  was  poorer  than 
the  birds  of  the  air,  or  the  foxes  of  the  hills,  that  He 
had  not  where  to  lay  His  head,  and  at  last  His  very 
grave  was  borrowed.  Never  was  a  poorer  toiler  on  earth 
than  He.  Sometimes  He  must  sit  hungry  by  the  way- 
side, and  wait  for  the  very  bread  and  water  of  charity. 
At  times  it  seemed  as  if  He  had  no  friends  beneath 
the  heavens;  He  felt  the  proud  world's  scorn  and 
sneer  and  contempt.  He  says  they  point  the  finger, 
shoot  out  the  lip,  and  cry,  "Aha!  aha!"  There  is  not  a 
hard  place  of  the  toiler  on  earth  that  Jesus  has  not 
been  there,  nor  is  there  a  lowly  place  of  trial  and 
service  that  Jesus  has  not  filled  and  crowned  with 
honor.  Oh,  ye  burdened  toilers  of  earth,  however 
hard  your  place,  your  temptations  and  trials,  if  you 
would  find  a  compassionate  heart,  and  a  helping  hand, 
go  and  tell  your  need  into  the  ear  of  the  crowned 
Carpenter,  who  now  sits  enthroned,  the  sovereign 
of  the  universe.  He  Vv'ill  not  refuse  to  hear  nor  fail 
to  comfort,  help  and  deliver.  So  compassionate.  He 
knows  all  your  trials  and  is  touched  with  a  feeling 
of  sympathy  for  all  your  infirmities.  When  you  feel 
or  fear  that  power  and  capital  are  wronging  and  op- 
pressing labor;  that  wealth  and  pride  are  separating 
from  you  with  a  sneer,  and  standing  far  ofif  from  you, 
because  you  are  grimy  Avith  toil;  if  you  feel  or  fear  that 
greed  of  gain  is  trying  to  barter  with  your  flesh  and 
life-blood,  and  you  are  tempted  to  do  the  avenging 
and  right  the  wrong  by  your  own  wisdom  and  power 
— pause,  I  pray  you,  and  remember  that  vou  have  a 


240  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

brother  workman  on  the  throne,  just  and  almighty. 
Go  to  Him  in  such  a  crisis  for  wisdom  to  guide  you, 
for  grace  to  uphold  you  and  for  love  and  power  to 
deliver  you.  He  says,  "Vengeance  is  Mine,  I  will 
repay."  If  there  is  in  our  country  a  conflict  and  crash 
between  labor  and  capital,  between  wealth  and  poverty, 
power  and  weakness,  if  a  wrong  and  a  just  complaint, 
as  there  seems  to  be,  that  wrong  will  never  be  righted 
and  reconciliation  effected,  and  righteous  prosperity 
secured,  except  through  the  wisdom  and  grace  of  the 
Carpenter  of  Nazareth.  Appeal  to  Him,  trust  Him. 
By  your  own  wisdom  and  efforts  alone  you  will  only 
kindle  an  earthly  hell  and  dig  your  own  and  other 
graves.  By  His  wisdom,  truth  and  grace,  darkness 
can  be  turned  into  light,  war  into  peace,  oppression 
into  freedom,  and  hell  into  heaven.  Nowhere  is  there 
found  on  earth  such  wise,  helpful  sympathy  with 
earthly  toil  and  trial  as  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  His  real 
Church  and  followers.  The  charge  has  been  widely 
sown  over  this  land,  especially  this  last  year,  that  the 
Church  and  ministry  caters  to  wealth  and  courts  and 
coddles  power,  and  has  little  or  no  sympathy  and 
help  for  burdened,  toiling  humanity.  The  charge  has 
been  made  by  those  who  ought  to  know,  and  do  know, 
it  is  a  calumny.  We  admit  there  are  those  called  after 
the  name  of  this  Carpenter,  and  there  are  organizations 
called  churches,  that  have  in  them  more  greed,  pride 
and  haughty  self-righteousness  than  wisdom  or  grace, 
and  are  never  likely  to  see  heaven  below,  or  enter 
heaven  above.  But  take  Christ  and  His  true  followers, 
united  into  a  kingdom  and  Church,  and  they  have 
done  more  than  everything  else  to  revive  and  support 
and  deliver  oppressed  humanity.  "Come  unto  Me 
all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  24! 

you  rest,"  is  the  promise  of  the  Divine  Carpenter. 
We  have  never  yet  been  shown  the  asykims,  and 
hospitals,  and  benevolent  institutions  that  atheism 
and  infidelity  has  founded,  endowed  and  operated, 
and  never  will  be.  But  asylums  for  the  insane,  blind, 
deaf  and  dumb,  and  hospitals  for  the  sick  and  crippled, 
and  infirmaries  for  the  poor,  are  wholly  the  fruits  and 
building  of  the  Carpenter  of  Nazareth,  and  almost 
exclusively  supported  and  operated  by  His  followers. 
Show  us  the  organizations  that  are  formed  and  fur- 
nished by  the  godless  and  infidels  to  care  for  the  un- 
employed and  poor  of  your  city  this  winter.  They 
can  neither  form  or  operate  such,  and  leave  out  the 
churches,  for  Christians  not  only  take  care  of  their 
own  poor,  but  also  pay  seven-eighths  of  the  cost  of 
those  outside.  Why?  Because  they  have  been  with 
the  Carpenter  and  caught  some  measure  of  His  spirit. 
Who  are  to-day  visiting  prisons  and  hospitals,  and 
narrow,  filthy  alleys  of  great  cities,  the  miserable 
abodes  of  poverty  and  wretchedness,  supplying  the 
hungry  with  food,  the  naked  with  clothing,  and  send- 
ing the  physician  and  medicine  to  the  sick?  Are  these 
Christless,  unbelieving  men  and  women?  You  know 
the  very  opposite  of  this  is  the  truth,  that  they  are 
the  true  followers  of  this  Carpenter  of  Nazareth. 
Never  since  the  world  began  has  so  much  been  done 
by  beneficent  laws,  benevolent  institutions  and  per- 
sonal effort  to  comfort  and  relieve  and  help  the  wage- 
earner,  and  to  care  for  the  poor  and  unemployed  as 
at  the  present  day,  and  this  is  almost  entirely  the  work 
of  the  Church  and  organizations  controlled  by  Chris- 
tian men  and  women.  And  this  is  so  because  the 
spirit  of  the  great  Carpenter  has  been  instilled  into 
human  hearts  and  pervaded  Christian  and  civilized 
society. 


242 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


We  admit  the  Church  has  not  yet  reached  that  mea- 
sure of  sympathy  and  helpfulness  in  the  earthly  life 
she  should;  that  she  is  not  as  good  as  her  Head,  or 
equal  to  the  demands  of  her  builder;  that  He  yet 
remains  the  only  all-wise,  all-helpful  spmpathizer  with 
His  fellow-toilers.  Yet  His  Church,  however  imper- 
fectly she  represents  Him,  is  yet  the  best  friend  the 
burdened  and  toiling  have  visible  on  earth.  Ye  car- 
penters, artisans,  mechanics,  toilers  at  every  handi- 
craft, this  Carpenter  teaches  you,  both  by  precept  and 
example,  that  labor  is  honorable;  He  has  put  a  crown 
on  every  honorable  employment.  Only  idleness  and 
the  pride  or  beggary  of  idleness,  is  a  disgrace.  Labor 
was  never  a  curse;  it  was  the  holy  and  blessed  condi- 
tion of  Eden.  It  is  to-day  the  most  healthful  tonic 
to  the  physical  and  the  intellectual  man,  nourishing, 
vitalizing  and  compacting  brain  and  brawn.  The 
Gladstones,  the  Bismarcks,  Moltkes,  the  Everetts  and 
Palmers,  of  four  score  and  more,  are  mighty,  but  wise 
workers.  I  have  reason  to  be  grateful  for  years  of 
labor  on  the  farm,  in  the  open  fields,  that  gave  me 
the  vigor  of  nerve  and  muscles,  that  have  endured 
the  toil  of  so  many  years,  and  yet  remain  strong.  Re- 
joice in  your  ability  to  labor;  it  has  the  honor  of 
Divine  appointment  and  Divine  example,  that  a  life 
of  toil  may  be  the  best  Christian  life.  Was  not  His? 
It  can  never  be  so  hard,  so  tired,  so  burdened,  that  it 
may  not  be  a  life  of  faith,  and  hope,  and  prayer,  and 
love,  and  integrity.  He  alone  lived  a  perfect  life, 
and  He  lived  it  amid  toil,  privation,  wrong  and  suffer- 
ing; and  many  of  His  followers  have  lived  noble, 
upright,  pious  lives,  under  sore  toil  and  trial.  This 
Carpenter  teaches  you  by  precept  and  example  that 
a  life  of  toil  may  be  the  happiest  and  most  honored 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  243 

life  on  earth.  I  am  sure  that  Jesus,  in  all  His  toil 
and  privations  and  trials  and  sorrows,  had  more  pure 
and  unalloyed  happiness  than  was  ever  experienced 
in  thirty-three  years  on  earth.  Everything  within 
Him  and  about  Him,  except  sin,  ministered  to  His 
happiness,  because  of  His  purity  and  tranquility  of 
soul.  His  communion  with  His  God  in  His  person, 
and  truth  and  creation,  and  His  intercourse  of  love 
Avith  His  fellow-men,  and  His  great  and  awful  work, 
which  His  faith  said  would  succeed;  He  could  not  but 
have  infinite  sources  of  happiness  because  He  was 
holy.  And  never  was  life  lifted  into  such  beauty, 
grandeur  and  glory  as  by  Him.  He  crowned  life  and 
life's  labors  with  a  garland  of  fragrance  and  bloom 
that  will  never  fail  or  fade.  He  has  taught  us  that 
out  of  the  lowliest  and  hardest  positions  of  earth  we 
may  harvest  holiness  and  happiness,  and  may  reach 
honor,  the  highest  on  earth  and  high  in  heaven,  the 
royalty  of  Divine  likeness  and  service. 

This  Carpenter  of  Nazareth  has  built,  and  He  only 
■can  teach  you  to  build,  the  grandest  temple  that  ever 
adorned  the  earth — the  temple  of  character  and  life. 
Let  us  glance  at  a  few  of  the  temples  He  has  built 
"in  centuries  past — glorious  characters,  the  heroic  con- 
querors and  defenders  of  human  freedom,  such  as 
Gustavus  Adolphus  of  Sweden,  William  of  Nassau, 
Prince  of  Orange,  the  Cromwells,  the  Sidneys,  the 
Washingtons,  the  Lincolns,  these  were  His  building. 
Among  the  heroes  of  religious  freedom  and  defenders 
of  the  truth,  the  Luthers,  Calvins,  Zwingles,  Knoxes, 
Wesleys  and  Edwards,  were  His  building.  Among 
the  learned  and  philanthropic,  the  Newtons,  Bacons, 
Lockes,  Hamiltons,  and  McCoshes,  these  are  of  His 
building.     Of    great    orators    of    Gospel   grace,  the 


244 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


Chrysostoms,  the  Chalmers,  the  Masons  and  the 
Spiirgeons  are  of  His  building.  Of  philanthropists, 
the  Howards,  the  Wilberforces,  the  Browns,  and  such 
as  Clara  Barton  and  Florence  Nightingale,  are  of  His 
building.  As  Paul  says,  "What  shall  I  say  more? 
time  would  fail  me  to  tell;"  they  could  be  enumerated 
by  myriads.  These  are  but  a  few  samples  of  the 
temples  He  has  built  on  the  earth  that  will  never 
crumble  or  perish.  All  the  strongest,  grandest,  most 
beautiful  and  best  of  earth  are  of  His  building.  O, 
ye  carpenters  and  builders,  if  you  would  build  for 
yourselves  the  most  durable,  beautiful  and  perfect 
temple  of  life,  He  only  can  teach  you  how.  As  Peter 
says,  it  must  be  built  of  "lively"  or  "living  stones." 
Be  taught  by  Him  to  lay  stone  upon  stone  of  firm, 
strong  character;  to  build  into  it  a  faith  and  hope  that 
nothing  can  move  or  shake;  build  into  it  a  truth  and 
integrity  that  none  can  question;  learn  of  Him  to 
let  light  into  it  that  will  never  grow  dark,  and  set  in 
it  virtues  more  precious  and  beautiful  than  the  rarest 
jewels,  and  on  it  a  pinnacle  that,  unlike  the  Tower  of 
Babel,  will  reach  up  to  the  highest  heaven.  And  when 
the  top  stone  is  laid,  let  it  be  with  shoutings  of  "Grace, 
grace  unto  it."  For  you  will  assuredly  acknowledge 
that  the  whole  temple,  from  foundation  stone  to  the 
highest  pinnacle  point,  is  the  building  of  the  Car- 
penter of  Nazareth.  I  beseech  you,  accept  His  grace 
and  truth  and  love,  follow  His  teachings  as  the  great 
Builder,  and  imitate  His  example,  and  you  will  soon 
join  in  the  toilers'  hymn: 

"O   Builder  Divine,  the  daylight  is  gone, 
iMy  workshop  is  closed,  my  thoughts  are  now  free, 
'ihe  noise  of  earth's  traffic  is  hushed  in  the  streets. 
And  my  heart  and  my  voice  I  lift  unto  Thee. 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  245 

■"I  sing  of  the  glory  from  which  Thou  didst  come 
To  live  in  a  cottage  and  work  for  Thy  bread. 

I  sing  of  the  glory  which  Thou  didst  conceal 
In  a  carpenter's  worth,  'neath  a  carpenter's  shed. 

"O  Builder  Divine,  now  raised  to  Thy  throne, 

Reveal  unto  me  Thy  wonderful  plan 
For  building  an  earthly,  yet  heavenly  life, 

For  growing  in  favor  with  God  and  with  man. 

■"I,  too,  am  a  toiler,  unheeded,  unknown, 

I  have  a  spirit  which  longs  to  be  free. 
O,  teach  me  to  work  and  patiently  wait, 

While  knowing  my  kinship  with  God  and  with  Thee." 

O,  my  hearers,  for  yourselves,  each  one  of  you, 
accept  this  Carpenter  of  Nazareth  for  your  Builder, 
your  Divine  Friend  and  Redeemer. 


XV. 
Proof  of  Manhood. 

^^Skow  thyself  a  man,''^  I  Kings  ii:  12. 

He  is  not  always  a  man  who  is  such  in  appearance. 
My  text  clearly  implies  that  manhood  is  something' 
to  be  shown,  to  be  proved.  There  are  those  who 
claim  the  title  who  cannot  produce  the  credentials. 
When  the  prophet  Jeremiah  was  commanded  to  search 
Jerusalem  "if  he  could  find  a  man,"  we  may  suppose 
they  were  scarce  in  that  sacred  city.  When  the  Greek 
philosopher,  Diogenes,  searched  Athens  with  a  candle 
to  find  a  man,  he  doubtless  thought  such  were  scarce 
in  that  ancient  city.  Now,  I  do  not  suppose  for  a 
moment  the  United  States  are  so  impoverished  of 
men  as  Jerusalem  or  Athens,  but  it  is  certain  the 
nation  and  the  Church  would  be  richer,  purer, 
stronger,  if  she  had  many  more  citizens  and  members, 
worthy  of  being  called  men  in  the  broadest,  fullest 
sense  of  the  name.  For  the  continued  freedom,  peace, 
perpetuity  and  honor  of  the  State  and  the  Church, 
they  need  "pure-hearted  men,  firm,  true  and  strong." 
What  are  the  evidences  of  true  manhood?  What 
is  it  proves  any  creature  to  be  such  a  being  as  that 
into  which  the  Creator  breathed  the  breath  of  life, 
made  a  living  soul,  placed  in  paradise  and  called  a 
man?  An  animal  that  walks  upright  on  two  legs, 
feeds  himself  with  his  fore-paws,  utters  bad  language, 
wears  a  beard  and  smokes,  may  describe  Darwin's 
original;  but  not  the  being  God  created  and  sceptered 
in  Eden.     No  creature  can  prove  itself  a  man  simply 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


247 


by  eating  big  dinners,  taking  big  naps,  and  filling 
up  the  spaces  with  other  animal  delights — that  species 
which,  long  ago,  the  devils  scared  into  the  sea  could 
excel  in  all  these.  The  fact  that  a  creature  can  pro- 
duce a  silky  mustache  and  a  flowing  beard  is  no  proof, 
for  fungi  and  moss  can  grow  on  rotten  logs  and  beard 
on  an  ape.  The  fact  that  a  creature  hangs  on  his 
figure  the  richest  clothing,  fitted  artistically,  is  no 
proof;  a  tailor's  dummy  or  a  "lay  figure"  in  a  shop 
window  may  have  all  these.  The  fact  that  a  creature 
can  lounge  in  an  office,  promenade  attractively  the 
streets,  play  the  gallant  in  a  ball  room  or  parlor,  and 
amuse  a  lady's  lap-dog,  does  not  prove  he  is  a  man. 
Many  biped  creatures  who  hang  around  groceries 
and  saloon  doors,  roost  on  vacant  lots,  or  along  the 
banks  or  water-courses,  especially  on  the  Sabbath  day, 
might  be  described  as  Barnum  did  a  strange  creature 
he  had  in  his  menagerie:  'Tt  was  five  feet  eleven  inches 
high,  and  eighteen  or  twenty  inches  through,  can  bal- 
ance itself  upright  and  walk  on  two  limbs,  having 
flanges  behind  and  before;  it  is  a  wonderfully  con- 
structed animal,  and  endowed  with  powers  capable  of 
marvellous  uses;  can  feed  itself  and  wipe  its  mouth 
as  politely  as  a  gentleman;  can  step  along  the  street 
or  brace  up  a  lamp  post;  can  even  take  part  in  some 
small  talk  and  gossip  in  the  shops  and  stores;  can 
carry  a  morsel  of  scandal  around  and  retail  it  as  de- 
lightedly and  pleased  as  a  human  being."  When 
persons  saw  it,  many  thought  it  was  really  a  man. 
To  the  disgrace  of  the  human  species,  such  a  burden- 
some biped  is  called  a  man.  It  is  not  enough  to 
quote  Latin  and  Greek  phrases  or  chatter  French 
to  be  a  man.  It  is  said  a  parrot  or  starling  can  be 
taught  to  do  this.     One  may  possess  the  exhaustless 


248  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

verbosity  and  rhetoric  of  George  Francis  Train,  the 
elegant  dress  and  cultured,  exquisite  address  of  Ches- 
terfield, or  Beau  Brummel,  yet  come  far  short  of  that 
divinely  endowed  being — a  man.  He  may  have  a 
towering,  stalwart  frame,  the  brawn,  sinews  and  physi- 
cal culture  of  the  athlete,  yet  in  no  other  respects  be 
a  man,  for  "brutal  bruisers,"  tyrants  and  devils  have 
dwelt  in  strong  castles  and  beautiful  palaces.  He  may 
have  muscles  loose  as  woolen  threads,  a  poor,  dis- 
tracted, feeble  frame,  yet  in  all  other  respects  be  a  man 
— pure  and  regal,  just  as  some  of  the  noblest  of  the 
race  have  inhabited  hovels  and  even  dungeons. 

Manhood  has  proof  clear  and  unmistakable.  You 
must  show  yourself  a  man  by  what  you  do  and  what 
you  will  not  do.  Oftentimes  one  shows  himself  a 
man  as  much  by  what  he  will  not  do  as  by  what  he 
does.  Although  merely  negative,  it  is  no  mean  evi- 
dence of  manhood  to  say  "no"  in  the  right  time  and 
place.  Persons  may  face  hostile  cannon,  go  to  the 
stake  for  an  opinion  or  suffer  martyrdom  for  glory; 
who,  with  an  empty  purse  and  an  empty  larder,  or  in 
the  smile  of  human  friendship,  or  prospect  and  promises 
of  an  office,  could  not  say  no  to  the  devil  himself. 
It  is  manly  to  refuse  the  use  of  that  as  a  beverage 
which  intoxicates.  He  has  too  much  respect  for  his 
own  manhood  and  love  for  his  fellowmen  to  debase 
himself  or  help  to  inebriate  them.  A  man  will  not 
blaspheme  the  name  of  his  Maker  and  Redeemer,  not 
covet  the  poor  reward  of  an  atheist's  laugh.  A  man 
will  not  make  a  mock  of  sin;  he  will  leave  such  sport 
for  fools;  he  will  not  treat  religion  with  indifference 
and  the  Bible  with  contempt  or  neglect;  the  greatest 
intellects  of  purest  taste  and  finest  culture  have  ever 
admired  and  loved  it.     A   man  will   abhor  obscene 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  249 

word  or  gesture,  especially  in  the  presence  of  women 
and  children;  a  man  will  treat  with  true  courtesy  and 
respect  the  aged,  however  poor,  homely  or  illiterate 
they  may  be;  a  man  will  not  spot  or  puncture  the  face 
of  beauty,  and  despoil  the  temple  of  truth  and  virtue 
by  lust  or  falsehood.     A  man  will  scorn  the  bribes 
and  gains  of  villainous  enterprises,  and  refuse  frater- 
nity with  juntos,  cliques  and  clans  that  pursue  their 
ends  by  underground  channels,  darkness  and  secrecy, 
which  robs  manhood  of  its  franchises,   candor  and 
honor.     Take  the  whole  range  of  petty  meannesses 
and   villainous   skulking   trickeries   that   are   counted 
too  insignificant  to  have  a  place  in  the  catalogue  of 
crimes,  or  be  noticed  in  a  penal  code,  and  he  that  is  a 
man  will  scorn  them  all  because  they  are  mean,  a 
reproach  to  open,  candid  manliness.     If  he  does  not, 
and  will  not  use  his  powers  to  effect  crimes  that  imperil 
a  nation,  startle  the  world  and  glorify  a  devil,  neitlier 
will  he  trail  himself  through  the  filthy  streamlets  and 
sewers  of  sin.     A  man  will  show  himself  a  man  by 
his  regard  for  both  body  and  soul.     He  cannot  be 
indifferent  to  the  earthly  temple  God  has  built  for  his 
soul.     It  is   fearfully   and   wonderfully    made    by    a 
Divine  architect  and  worthy  of  every  man's  care  and 
concern.     But  he  is  more  concerned  for  his  soul,  the 
immortal    inhabitant   and    worshipper,    than   for   the 
temple,  as  he  has  more  interest  and  anxiety  for  the 
undying  spirits  in  his  home,  his  wife  and  children,  than 
for  the  house  that  covers  them.     So  he  is  more  con- 
cerned for  the  food,  the  health,  the  happiness  and 
adornment  of  his  soul  than  his  body.     A  man  provides 
for  the  necessities  and  demands  of  his  intellectual  and 
moral  nature,  seeks  and  acquires  knowledge,  because 
it  is  food,  and  power,  and  strength,  and  enjoyment 


250  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

to  an  intellectual  and  moral  being.  A  man  will  fear^ 
and  reverence,  and  worship,  his  Maker,  because 
He  is  Creator  and  a  being  of  infinite  worthiness  and 
glorious  majesty;  he  will  love  and  trust  his  Redeemer 
because  He  is  his  Saviour,  and  altogether  excellent 
and  most  loving.  A  man  will  maintain  and  defend 
the  rights  of  his  fellow-men  because  they  are  rights, 
and  the  rights  of  men  who  can  claim  equity  and 
equality  with  himself.  A  man  will  speak  the  truth 
whenever  the  honor  of  God  or  the  welfare  of  men 
demands  it,  simply  because  it  is  truth,  and  the  glor}^  of 
Deity  and  happiness  of  humanity  claim  it.  The 
world  may  frown  or  sneer,  and  cry  fanatic  or  fool,, 
reputation  may  be  in  peril,  gains  may  become  losses,, 
and  the  white  heat  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  furnace  may 
blaze  in  his  face,  but  man  is  immortal,  happiness  is 
eternal,  God  is  judge,  and  he  will  speak  the  truth  if 
he  be  a  man. 

A  man  will  dare  denounce  and  expose  wrong  and 
wickedness  because  it  is  wrong,  and  the  honor  of  God 
and  the  safety  of  man  demands  it  shall  be  exposed, 
conquered  and  exterminated.  In  the  estimation  of  a 
man,  the  glory  of  the  Divine  One  and  the  happiness 
of  immortal  men  are  higher  and  more  valuauie  than 
all  mere  earthly  and  perishable  interests.  A  man  who 
m.akes  his  standard  of  truth  and  right  the  infallible 
law  of  God  and  the  eternal  principles  of  equity,  for 
the  true  man  well  knows  that  fine  editorials,  thunders 
of  human  applause,  flaunting  banners,  roaring  can- 
non, lofty  monoliths  and  eloquent  eulogies,  all  cannot 
make  wrong  right  or  the  wrong-doer  a  victor,  and 
the  w^ant  of  all  these  cannot  make  right  wrong  or 
rob  the  right-doer  of  his  triumph;  he  is  an  eternal 
victor.     He  may  be  crucified,  but  he  will  also  be  glori- 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  25 1 

fied.  Such  a  man  needs  no  special  occasion  to  show 
his  manhood.  The  forum  of  high  debate,  the  theatre 
of  war  or  scaffold  of  martyrdom  are  not  necessary 
for  him;  he  can  show  himself  a  man  in  the  ordinary 
walks  of  life,  in  home  duties  and  the  family  circle,  in 
the  mart  and  on  the  farm,  in  the  work  shop  and  at  the 
desk,  in  the  school  room  and  in  the  church,  on  the 
hustings  and  in  the  council ;  by  integrity,  purity,  truth- 
fulness and  honor,  can  prove  himself  a  man. 

And  what  are  called  the  common,  the  small  affairs 
of  life,  are  a  surer  test  of  true  manhood  than  the 
greater.     He  who  is  not  patient,  upright,  manly  in 
little   things,   will   not   be   in   the   greater.     He   who 
cannot    bear    the    annoyances  of  domestic  life  with 
manly  patience  and  cheerfulness,  could  not  endure  the 
assaults    of    public    life;  he  who  cannot  subdue  the 
domestic  midge  cannot  beard  the  lion;  he  who  will 
not  honestly  make  a  boot  would  not  honestly  make 
a  law;  he  who  could  not  be  a  faithful  coachman,  would 
not  be  a  faithful  congressman;  he  who  will  not  rule 
himself    cannot    govern    others.     True  manliness   is 
shown  by  enduring  with  patience  the  little  ills  and 
petty  trials  of  life,  meeting    firmly    and    conquering 
calmly  the  unnoted  foes,  putting  aside  penny  bribes 
and  paltry  titles,  and  proving  himself  a  man  every 
day,  in  every  duty,  in  any  position,  in  every  emer- 
gency.    Such  a  man  may  fall  from  opulence  to  com- 
parative penury,  but  he  can  go  from  a  palace  to  the 
lowly  dwelling,  gather  his  family  around  the  scanty 
fireside  and  make  home  bright  with  hope  and  love 
and  faith  and  prayer,  because,  being  a  true  man,  he 
knows  that  neither  the  world  nor  the  devil,  nor  both 
together,   can  degrade  virtue,   stain  honor,  nor  rob 
eternity.     Put  a  sceptre  in  the  hands  of  such  a  man. 


^52 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


make  him  a  ruler,  an  executive,  and  he  will  honor 
law,  vindicate  justice,  punish  crime,  protect  innocence 
and  administer  for  the  honor  of  God  the  perpetuity 
of  government  and  the  welfare  of  humanity.  Free- 
dom will  be  secured,  rights  maintained  and  happiness 
promoted.  Put  such  a  man  in  the  place  of  perilous 
duty,  and  he  will  meet  danger  as  Bass  Rock  meets 
the  billows — unmoved.  God  is  above  him,  honor  and 
truth  are  within  him,  men  and  angels  watch  him, 
eternity  is  before  him,  and  duty  is  guarded  by  all  these 
and  he  can  be  trusted  there  to  show  himself  a  man. 

In  every  place  prove  thyself  a  man,  such  as  God 
created  and  crowned.  Whether  in  high  place  or  low, 
in  public  or  private,  in  danger  or  safety,  in  temptation 
or  out  of  it,  in  prosperity  or  adversity,  show  thyself 
a  man,  upright,  intelligent,  strong,  faithful,  a  pure 
man,  trusty  and  true — such  as  God  honors  and  man 
admires.  Your  country  is  in  sore  need  of  such  men. 
The  nation  dos  not  want  for  biped  citizens  with  a 
beard ;  she  has  millions  of  them — great,  little  creatures ; 
learned,  lying  creatures;  smart,  villainous  creatures; 
ambitious  servants  for  "price  and  reward,"  aspirants 
for  sinecures  civil  and  ecclesiastical.  In  the  case  of 
many  of  these  place-seekers,  their  knowledge  of  the 
nation's  wants,  resources  and  commerce  is  limited  to 
the  price  of  cigars,  whiskey  and  dress  goods,  their 
culture  is  the  fine  physical  display  and  chaste  gesticu- 
lation of  the  ball-room,  and  the  fashionable  manners 
of  the  street.  They  are  plenty  and  cheap  as  Mexican 
rubies  at  fifteen  cents  a  bushel. 

We  have  no  lack  of  that  flaccid,  flabby  type  of  char- 
acter, whose  fibre  and  whole  texture  is  much  like  that 
•of  a  woolen  stocking  with  many  dropped  stitches, 
and  more  easily  raveled  out.     Their  manly  qualities 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  253 

are  much  like  slip  shod  shoes  run  down  at  the  heel, 
easily  put  on  and  oft';  a  feeble,  soft,  selfish,  craven 
creature,  that  would  melt  like  wax  before  the  furnace, 
and  fall  before  temptation  like  a  Brahmin  before  a 
golden  god;  that  would  cower  in  adversity  like  a 
child  in  the  darkness;  that  professes  neither  fear  nor 
love  of  God,  only  possesses  a  cowardly  fear  of  the 
devil,  moved  only  by  his  interests,  ruled  only  by  in- 
stinct, appetite  and  desire;  when  he  is  angry,  it  aas 
no  higher  source  or  character  than  that  of  a  dog 
robbed  of  his  bone.  He  is  trustworthy  nowhere, 
never  shows  himself  a  man,  a  strong,  steadfast,  true 
man,  on  any  occasion,  common  or  special,  in  any  duty 
or  position,  public  or  private.  Such  men  seem  to  be 
plenty  in  this  day  and  land,  and  busy  as  maggots,  and 
rapacious  as  cormorants.  Neither  the  country  nor 
the  Church  has  any  need  of  such.  But  both  need 
building  material,  granite  men,  who  can  be  built  into 
the  foundation  and  the  walls  of  the  temple  of  freedom; 
souls  that  have  the  fibre  and  toughness  of  the  oak, 
made  into  the  shipbeam  that  endures  the  storm.  Men 
that,  however  rough  and  uncultured,  shall  be  grand 
and  immutable  like  the  mountains,  that  will  stand 
against  the  tide  of  temptation  as  the  mountains  stand 
against  the  sea.  Men  who  know  that  God,  the  omnip- 
otent, just  and  holy  One,  is  above  them,  immortality 
within  them,  eternity  and  heaven  before  them,  and 
who  know  that  happiness,  greatness  and  glory 
is  the  fruit  of  pure  and  righteous  doing.  Make  all 
your  electors  such  men,  and  will  any  political  mouser 
dare  run  round  ofifering  them  ten  dollars  for  their 
votes,  or  fifty  dollars  for  their  influence;  a  post  office 
or  an  assessorship  for  partisan  campaign  help?  No, 
indeed!     They  would  as  soon  think  of  ofifering  an 


:254  ^^^  GOLDEN  POT. 

angel  a  lot  in  the  cemetery  as  a  bribe.  Put  men  of 
such  mental  and  moral  texture  into  authority  and 
•official  place  in  your  cities,  and  they  will  save  you 
thousands  of  dollars  a  year  in  taxation,  and  their 
service  and  influence  will  be  worth  millions  more. 
Put  men  of  such  intelligence,  purity  and  pith  in  your 
jury  box,  and  they  will  give  your  criminals  a  halter, 
or  send  them  to  learn  a  trade  in  the  penitentiary,  which 
is  better  for  them  and  safer  and  cheaper  for  the  tax- 
payer. Send  men  of  genuine  type  to  Congress,  and 
Pacific  railroads  can  be  built  for  less  than  $200,000,000 
a  line,  and  the  nation  can  have  a  better  credit  than 
the  Credit  Mobilier. 

But  if  you  send  to  your  Legislature  men  who  can 
always  show  themselves  men,  still  there  are  some 
things  they  cannot  do.  Going  there  with  nothing, 
and  in  debt  for  their  campaign  expenses,  and  living 
on  the  salary  of  a  representative,  they  cannot  in  three 
years  pay  ten  thousand  dollars  for  a  farm.  They  can- 
not in  a  single  night  pass  an  appropriation  bill  of  a 
million  dollars  and  have  time  for  a  champagne  supper 
before  morning.  But  these  feats  have  been  accom- 
plished in  a  capital  not  far  hence.  But  men  often 
show  themselves  men  as  much  by  what  they  cannot 
as  by  what  they  can  do.  But  as  men  of  talent  and 
integrity,  they  can  show  it  by  protecting  the  treasury, 
trade  and  commerce,  and  promoting  the  material 
and  moral  development  of  the  commonwealth  and  the 
nation.  Make  the  electors  and  elected  of  this  nation 
men  of  such  moral  stamina  and  steadfastness,  of  such 
fine  invincible  principles  as  Washington,  Witherspoon, 
Roger,  Sherman,  Franklin,  Lincoln  and  Hayes,  and 
who  does  not  know  that  a  republic  of  such  voters  and 
•ofificers  would  be  the  purest,  strongest,  grandest,  most 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  255 

admired  government  on  earth.  From  the  chief  justice 
down  through  all  the  grades  of  courts  put  the  judicial 
robes  only  on  such  men  as  John  Jay,  Story  and 
Strong,  and  the  charge  of  bribery  and  corruption 
would  never  be  heard,  and  villains  would  not  laugh  at 
court  trials,  dungeons  and  scaffolds  as  ridiculous 
scare-crows;  they  would  not  mangle  and  murder  and 
burn  with  impunity  and  run  unhung  over  the  land. 

The  nation  needs  strong,  firm,  skilled  men,  moral 
and  political  surgeons,  who  will  dare  to  probe  and 
cleanse  a  wound  or  ulcer;  if  need  be,  to  cauterize  a 
sore  or  cut  out  a  cancer.     Such 

"As  dare  with  vigor  execute  the  laws, 
Her  fettered  members  must  be  lanced  and  tented; 
He's  a  bad  surgeon  who  for  pity  spares 
The  part  corrupted  till  the  gangrene  spread 
And  all  the  body  perish;  he  that's  merciful 
Unto  the  bad  is  cruel  to  the  good." 

Let  justice  be  tempered  with  mercy,  yet  so  tempered 
that  justice  will  not  be  defrauded  nor  law  and  authority 
shamed.  Put  into  the  great  centres  of  trade  and 
commerce  men  who  "fear  God  and  hate  covetousness," 
men  who  do  not  balance  heaven  and  earth  in  the  scales 
to  see  which  they  will  buy,  or  if  they  cannot  possibly 
get  both;  men  who  do  not  leave  all  conscience,  honor 
and  truth  out  of  trade,  who  feel  they  are  stewards  of 
God  and  humanity,  then  "pools"  and  "corners"  in 
Erie  and  Northwestern,  in  grain  and  gold,  bulling 
up  and  bearing  down  the  market  may  cease;  but  so 
long  as  such  animals  as  "Old  Hutch,"  Gould,  Fisk, 
Drew  and  their  ilk  control  the  channels  of  trade,  there 
will  be  Reading  combines,  inhuman  syndicates,  and 
■"Black  Fridays"  in  Wall  Street,  and  stock  trade  and 


256  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

their  branches  will  be  little  better  than  the  most  un- 
certain and  thieving  gambling  schemes  of  Monte 
Carlo.  What  is  needed  is  strong,  noble  men  of  "free 
clear  minds  and  hearts  of  health."  Any  scheme  of 
reform  is  vain  that  does  not  begin  with  reforming  the 
hearts  and  lives  of  the  citizen  and  produce  full-orbed 
manhood.  This  will  make  the  nation  and  the  Church 
pure,  strong  and  safe,  grand  and  guarded  at  home, 
feared  and  admired  abroad.  How  is  our  land  to  be 
supplied  with  men  that  can  in  every  position  prove 
themselves  men,  trusty,  true  and  strong? 

David  charged  Solomon  to  show  himself  a  man, 
and  that  he  might  do  this,  directs  him  "to  keep  the 
charge  of  the  Lord  thy  God,  to  walk  in  His  way, 
to  keep  His  statutes  and  commandments,  and  His 
judgments  and  testimonies,  that  thou  mayest  prosper 
in  all  thou  doest,  and  whithersoever  thou  turnest  thy- 
self." And  it  is  just  as  true  in  our  land  and  time  as 
three  thousand  years  ago,  and  ever  will  be  true,  that 
only  the  principles  of  God's  Word  in  the  heart  and  life 
can  make  full-orbed  manhood.  He  alone  who  gave 
the  soul  being  can  repair  its  injuries;  His  truth  alone 
teaches  the  true  relation  between  God  and  man,  and 
man  and  man,  and  that  love  which  is  due  to  God  and 
man;  His  truth  alone  places  before  the  mind  and  heart 
pure  and  sufficient  motives  and  authority  to  control 
the  life.  Our  country  has  many  men  of  fine  physique, 
excellent  intellectual  powers  and  culture,  and  large 
attainments  in  secular,  scientific  and  material  knowl- 
edge; but  they  do  not  seem  to  be  under  the  authority 
of  motives  that  are  high,  pure  and  enduring  enough 
to  make  them  brave,  unselfish,  noblest  men  for  God 
and  humanity.  We  do  not  want  simply  intellectual 
animals    of    fine    physical  breadth   and   muscle — the 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  257 

teachings  of  Dio  Lewis  might  supply  these.  We  do 
not  need  simply  burnished  intellects  and  cultured 
mental  powers — the  schools,  academies  and  colleges 
might  give  us  these;  and  this  training  we  must  have. 
Do  not  for  a  moment  suppose  I  would  depreciate 
the  value  of  the  schools,  the  education,  the  culture 
of  both  body  and  mind;  this  is  essential  to  complete 
manhood.  But  of  all  governments  on  earth,  one 
constituted  as  ours  is,  founded  upon  such  principles, 
having  such  institutions,  must  have  men  of  healthy 
hearts,  influenced  by  moral  principles,  pure  and 
eternal,  and  God's  Word  alone  can  give  us  these.  The 
strongest,  purest,  most  faithful  and  trusted  men  of  all 
the  past,  men  faithful  to  freedom  of  man  and  every 
right  and  blessing  of  humanity, 

"Men  at  whose  rebuking  frown 

Dark  with  God's  wrath,  the  tyrant's  knee  went  down, 
That  from  the  terrors  of  the  guilty  drew 
The  vassal's  freedom,  and  the  poor  man's  due." 

were  men  who  fed  and  grew  strong  on  this  food  of 
heaven;  men  who  mapped  out  civilized  kingdoms, 
reared  righteous  governments  and  tribunals  of  justice, 
gave  homes,  peace  and  safety  to  men;  wrought  with 
instruments  sharpened  and  furnished  by  Divine  truth. 
The  men  who  planted  the  asylum  of  freedom  on  the 
frigid,  icy  coast  of  New  England,  in  the  face  of  starva- 
tion and  savage  barbarism,  were  men  of  faith  in  God 
and  love  for  men,  who  learned  their  principles  from 
the  Divine  book.  The  strong  men  of  the  Revolution, 
who  defied  the  roaring  lion  of  Britain,  who  sacrificed 
and  suffered  and  endured,  even  to  impoverishment 
and  death,  were  men  that  had  God  in  their  hearts 
through  the  truth.     In  illustration  of  this  I  need  only 


258  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

refer  to  General  Washington  on  his  knees  at  Valley 
Forge;  to  Samuel  Adams,  "a  true  Christian  states- 
man," who  had  family  worship  night  and  morning; 
John  Q.  Adams,  of  whom  Everett  says,  "The  last 
great  dominant  principle  of  his  life  was  the  fear  of 
God — there  was  the  hiding  of  his  power."  Chief 
Justice  John  Jay  and  Witherspoon  and  Hopkins  and 
Ellery  and  Livingstone,  etc.,  all  learned  of  Christ  and 
His  truth.  Come  to  a  succeeding  generation  of 
strong,  patriot  statesmen,  and  Jackson  and  Scott  and 
Webster  and  Lincoln  and  Grant  accepted  Christ  and 
His  truth.  Read  the  roll-call  of  the  heroic  and  faith- 
ful of  historic  annals — faithful  to  every  trust,  faithful 
to  right,  freedom  to  humanity — you  will  find  they 
have  always  been  those  whose  moral  manhood  had 
been  made  by  the  nourishment  of  God's  truth.  The 
Hollander  had  learned  that  freedom  of  conscience  and 
lawful  liberty  with  poverty  was  better  than  papal 
error,  inquisition  and  vassalage  with  wealth ;  this  made 
them  manly  and  strong  enough  to  cut  their  dikes  and 
flood  their  country.  The  same  manliness  and  truth 
nerved  Winkelreid  to  gather  a  great  sheaf  of  Austrian 
spears  to  his  heart  at  the  pass  of  Sempach,  that  Swit- 
zerland might  be  free.  The  same  truth  and  manliness 
made  the  mountains  and  moors  of  Scotland  a  place  of 
worship  and  a  fortress  against  prelacy  and  vassalage, 
and  our  freedom  is  a  legacy  from  those  Highland 
guardsmen  of  the  glen.  Manliness  born  and  nurtured 
through  the  spirit  of  truth  settled  America  and  freed 
it  from  the  British  yoke;  the  same  manliness  and  truth 
proclaimed  "liberty  through  the  whole  land."  No 
nation  needs  so  many  men  born  of  the  truth  and  nour- 
ished to  strength  and  greatness  in  the  truth  of  God 
as  this  nation,  because  it  is  a  government  of  electors 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


259 


and  elected,  and  nothing  else  can  tit  men  for  this  but 
the  truth  of  the  Bible,  which  teaches  the  helplessness 
oi  men,  and  the  helpfulness  of  God.  If  the  knowl- 
edge and  fear  of  God  and  the  truth  of  His  Word  is 
not  planted  in  the  hearts  of  a  large  number  of  the 
people  of  any  land,  that  land  cannot  have  a  free  gov- 
ernment; cannot  establish  and  preserve  the  most 
precious  rights  and  privileges  of  its  people.  Lamar- 
tine  said  of  the  early  French  republic — and  the  same 
might  be  said  of  the  present  one — "The  republic  of 
these  men  without  a  God  has  been  quickly  stranded. 
The  liberty  won  by  so  much  heroism  and  so  much 
genius  has  not  found  in  France  a  conscience  to  shelter 
it,  a  God  to  avenge  it,  or  a  people  to  defend  it  against 
that  atheism  which  has  been  called  glory.  An  atheistic 
republic  cannot  be  heroic.  When  you  terrify  it,  it 
bends;  when  you  would  buy  it,  it  sells  itself.  The 
people  ungrateful;  God  non-existent;  so  finish  atheistic 
revolutions."  Said  the  great  Hooker,  "The  safety  of 
the  State  dependeth  on  religion."  In  the  British 
Parliament,  Burke  gave  as  the  reason  of  the  American 
colonists'  love  of  liberty,  'The  Protestantism  of  the 
Protestant  religion." 

John  Milton's  grandest  idea  of  a  strong,  pure,  good, 
•civil  government  was  "one  huge  Christian  personage, 
one  mighty  outgrowth  and  stature  of  an  honest  man." 
To  talk  of  this  republic  existing  without  the  religion 
of  Christ  is  preposterous.  It  is  to  deny  the  truth  of 
all  history,  of  moral  philosophy,  and  the  truth  of  the 
Divine  Word.  Take  all  the  arterial  blood  from  a 
man's  veins  and  the  marrow  from  his  bones,  can  he 
remain  a  man  of  vigor  and  health?  Take  the  moral 
and  regenerating  principles  of  God's  truth  out  of  the 
channels  of  national  life,  out  of  the  veins  and  marrow 


26o  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

bones  of  the  republic,  out  of  the  common  schools  and 
those  of  a  higher  grade,  out  of  legislatures  and  Con- 
gress, out  of  channels  of  trade  and  commerce,  out  of 
political  and  official  responsibilities;  take  the  cleansing 
virtues  of  the  Divine  Word  out  of  these  arteries  of 
national  life,  and  you  take  all  moral  nutriment,  that 
which  alone  can  make  and  feed  the  heart  of  manhood, 
and  your  electors  and  elected  would  soon  be  destitute 
of  soul,  health  and  strength  to  perpetuate  the  republic. 
It  is  not  the  decay  of  physical  and  intellectual  cul- 
ture and  strength  that  endangers  cur  country,^  but 
that  "the  godly  man  ceaseth,  that  the  faithful  fail  from 
among-  the  children  of  men."  The  great  want  of  the 
age,  the  country  and  the  Church  is  men.  "Men  who 
are  not  for  sale.  Men  who  are  honest,  sound  from 
centre  to  circumference,  true  to  the  heart's  core. 
Men  whose  consciences  are  steady  as  the  needle  to 
the  pole."  Men  who  will  stand  for  the  right  if  the 
heavens  totter  and  the  earth  reels.  Men  that  can  tell 
the  truth  firmly  and  in  love,  to  the  face  of  friend  or 
foe  "Men  that  neither  brag  nor  run,  that  neither 
flag  nor  flinch."  Men  in  whom  the  courage  of  ever- 
lasting life  runs  deep  and  strong;  men  who  do  not 
cry  nor  cause  their  voices  to  be  heard  in  the  streets, 
but  who  will  not  fail  nor  be  discouraged  till  judgment 
be  set  in  the  earth;  men  who  tell  their  message  faith- 
fully; men  who  know  their  places  and  fill  them;  men 
who  know  their  business  and  follow  it  honestly;  men 
who  will  not  lie  for  fear  or  favor,  fame  or  pelf;  men 
who  are  not  too  lazy  to  work,  nor  too  proud  to  be 
poor;  men  who  are  willing  to  eat  what  they  earn,  and 
wear  what  they  pay  for;  men  willing  to  endure  the 
hardships  of  duty  and  bear  one  another's  burdens. 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  261 

"Give  us  men  of  the  lion  pattern, 

Bold  and  strong; 
Men  of  nerve,  heart  and  soul, 

To  grapple  wrong, 
To  rebuke  the  age's  popular  crime, 
The  souls  of  fire,  hearts  of  the  olden  time." 

Who  keep  the  charge  of  the  Lord,  and  in  State  and 
Church  they  will  show  themselves  men,  and  God  will 
be  pleased  and  honored. 


XVI. 

Thanksgiving. 

*'0 give  thanks  to  the  Lord,  for  He  is  good, ^^  Psalm  cxviii:  29. 

That  we  have  abundant  reasons  for  thanksgiving 
and  that  it  is  a  duty  to  be  thankful  I  suppose  none 
v^ill  deny.  And  that  goodness  received  ought  to 
produce  a  thankful  spirit.  As  the  warm  shining  of 
the  summer  sun  clothes  the  earth  with  beauty  and 
fills  it  with  fragrance,  so  God's  goodness  should  be- 
get joy  and  gladness  in  human  hearts.  As  the  flowers 
open  their  coral  lips  to  drink  the  nectar  dews  of 
night,  or  showers  of  heaven,  so  the  grateful  heart 
should  open  thankful  lips  of  praise  under  the  gifts  of 
Divine  love.  I  have  tried  to  imagine  how  one  might 
get  the  best  impression  of  God's  goodness,  as  shown 
in  the  fruits  and  harvests  of  our  land,  and  I  have 
thought  he  might  start  about  the  first  of  June  across 
the  continent  and  take  a  view  of  the  opening  glory 
and  overflowing  wealth  of  the  land.  Under  the 
lengthening  days  of  the  early  summer,  and  the  genial 
rays  of  the  vital  sunshine,  the  swollen  buds  were 
bursting  into  bloom,  and  full-blown  flowers  putting  on 
a  royal  array,  surpassing  Solomon  in  all  his  glory; 
an  emerald  carpet  enameled  with  vegetable  mosaics 
was  spread  over  hill,  valley  and  plain;  unnumbered 
leagues  of  corn  rustled  its  dark  green  blades  and 
waved  its  knightly  plumes  in  the  summer  breeze,  and 
unnumbered  miles  of  wheat  fields  grew  golden  as  the 
sunbeams  kissed  them  and  rolled  their  gentle  billows 
like  a  shimmering  sea,  as  the  summer  winds  shook  the 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  263 

ripening  grain.  The  vine  clad  mountains  and  vales 
of  California  were  amber  colored,  grizzled  and  blue 
with  the  purple  and  many  hued  cluster  of  the  grape 
that  cheereth  God  and  man;  and  in  the  broad  valleys 
and  along  the  mountain  sides  of  distant  Oregon, 
orchards  bent  their  laden  boughs  toward  the  earth 
under  the  weight  of  fruit  fit  to  hang  in  the  fabled 
garden  of  the  Hesperides.  And  as  he  came  back 
across  the  great  plains  and  prairies  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  travelling  amid  the  reapers,  and  those  who 
gathered  and  garnered  such  a  harvest  of  grain  and 
fruit  as  no  other  land  on  earth  ever  yielded,  how  could 
he  help  singing  with  the  Psalmist: 

"The  year  Thou  hfist  with  goodness  crowned, 
Thy  paths  drop  fatness  all  around. 

E'en  on  the  wilderness. 
The  little  hills  with  verdure  clad 
Are  girt  with  joy  by  Thee  made  glad. 

The  flocks  in  pasture  lie. 
The  vales  are  robed  with  waving  grain, 
And  shout  and  song  from  hill  and  plain 

Swell  joyous  to  the  sky." 

Then  coming  further  homeward,  he  stood  on  the 
summit  of  the  Alleghenies  in  the  gorgeous  glories  of 
the  Indian  summer,  amid  the  ensanguined  leaves 
and  the  emblazoned  sober  garb  of  the  autumn  moun- 
tains, resplendent  with  the  purple  and  scarlet 
banners  of  laurel,  ash  and  maple,  royal  pennons  of 
the  parting  year,  robed  by  the  Eternal  Father  in  a 
vesture  more  beautiful  and  many  colored  than  Jo- 
seph's coat,  sign  of  a  father's  favor.  There  perhaps 
he  took  from  his  pocket  the  report  of  the  Depart- 
ment   of    Agriculture  and  read:  The  people  of  the 


264  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

United  States  have  gathered  this  year  480,000,000 
bushels  of  oats,  20,000,000  bushels  of  rye,  45,000,000 
bushels  of  barley,  11,500,000  bushels  of  potatoes, 
700,000,000  bushels  of  wheat,  1,680,000,000  bushels  of 
corn,  and  fruits  that  could  not  be  measured  for 
quantity.  Then  coming  on  home,  he  found  there 
was  no  day  of  thanksgiving  observed.  And  methinks 
he  would  have  said:  The  Lord  might  write  across 
the  continent  in  letters  large  enough  to  reach  from 
short  to  shore,  "Ingratitude,  thou  marble-hearted 
fiend."  The  harvest  is  past,  the  summer  is  ended, 
and  this  people  is  not  saved  from  the  guilt  of  un- 
thankfulness.  Thank  the  Lord  for  a  day  of  thanks- 
giving. And  whether  bankers  or  bakers,  merchants 
or  manufacturers,  physicians,  lawyers,  preachers, 
whatever  our  pursuits,  let  us  thank  God  for  the 
bounteous  harvests  of  earth,  for  we  share  them  and 
are  just  as  dependent  on  them  as  those  who  sow 
and  garner  them. 

Second.  We  have  cause  for  thankfulness  in  the 
almost  perfect  freedom  from  any  plague  or  scourge, 
and  the  general  healthfulness  of  the  year.  Among 
no  other  55,000,000  of  the  human  race  has  there  been 
as  low  a  death  rate  and  as  little  sickness  and  sorrow. 
In  some  localities  there  have  been  epidemics  for  a 
time,  through  certain  limited  areas  there  have  been 
some  floods,  an  occasional  cyclone  and  destructive 
storm.  Along  the  southern  coast  the  earth  shook 
to  enough  remind  us  of  the  truth  that  it  is  yet  in  the 
hand  of  the  Almighty  and  that  He  can  shake  the 
wicked  out  of  it.  But  we  have  had  only  black  clouds 
enough  to  reveal  the  bow  of  Divine  mercy  across  the 
dark  canvass,  its  bright  hues  made  by  the  shining 
of  Divine  love  or  the  tear  drops  of  sorrow.     Only  sick- 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  265 

Tiess  enough  to  remind  us  that  we  are  still  in  the  body, 
yet  outside  the  gates  of  pearl. 

Third.  Let  us  thank  God  for  so  many  homes,  happy 
homes  in  our  land.  We  certainly  have  very  many 
unhappy  homes — we  still  have  selfishness,  drunken- 
ness, cruelty,  avarice,  and  lewdness,  or,  in  one  word, 
sin  enough  to  kill  the  happiness  and  poison  the  life 
of  many  homes — yet  we  have  more  happy  homes  than 
any  people  on  earth;  homes  such  as  are  created  by  the 
teachings  and  spirit  of  Divine  truth — homes  composed 
of  father  and  mother  united  in  ties  of  that  love  which 
is  the  bond  of  perfectness;  they  and  their  children 
linked  together  in  the  golden  chain  of  affection,  that 
makes  it  the  brightest  and  best  miniature  of  heaven 
on  earth — homes  that  are  the  nursery  of  piety  and 
patriotism,  the  strongest  bulwark  of  Church  and  State 
in  this  free  land.  I  do  not  forget  that  our  country 
is  blotched  with  the  foul  ulcer  and  scab  of  Mormon- 
ism,  but  the  lancet  of  the  law  will  cut  it  out  and  the 
Gospel  will  heal  the  hurt.  Still,  we  can  say,  in  com- 
parison with  other  countries,  ours  is  a  land  of  homes; 
not  simply  of  caravansaries,  hotels,  boarding  houses, 
restaurants  and  club  rooms,  but  homes  for  nursing 
love  and  virtue,  patriotism,  society  and  happiness. 
Every  such  a  homestead  is  a  patriotic  nail  driven  in 
a  sure  place,  over  which  you  can  unfurl  the  starry 
banner  of  the  republic,  assured  that  none  will  dare 
to  pull  it  down.  Let  us  thank  the  Lord  for  so  many 
Christian  homes,  and  increase  them  until,  if  possible, 
every  citizen  shall  have  a  home.  We  ought  to  be 
thankful  for  peace  in  our  land  this  year.  But  some 
may  say,  Why?  There  was  no  danger  of  war.  I  am 
not  so  sure  of  that.  From  whence,  says  the 
apostle,    come    wars    and    fighting?     Anarchy,    bold 


266  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

and  witless,  capital  and  labor  stood  at  defiance, 
jealousy,  envy,  avarice  and  wantonness  glowered 
angrily  at  each  other;  the  metropolitan  city  gave  a 
wild  Socialist  over  sixty  thousand  votes  for  Mayor. 
If  there  was  no  danger,  we  ought  to  be  most  thankful 
for  this.  Scarcely  any  other  land  has  been  free  from 
the  alarm.  Bulgaria  seems  to  have  been  the  daring 
chip  on  the  shoulder,  and  all  Europe  has  been  say- 
ing who  will  dare  knock  it  ofif.  And  the  day  of  our 
woe  and  carnage  is  not  yet  so  far  behind  us  that  we 
should  forget  thanks  for  peace.  Not  so  far  but  we 
can  look  back  and  see  the  black  lava  tide  of  ruin 
turned  by  the  hand  of  Divine  mercy  to  the  mountain 
side ;  not  so  far  back  but  we  can  recall 

"Years  of  trial  and  pain, 
Years  of  watching  o'er  t'ne  living, 
And  of  mourning  o'er  the  slain; 
But  God,  the  just  and  gracious, 
Has  bid  the  tempest  cease. 
And  the  voice  of  war  is  mute 
Before  the  coming  in   of  peace." 

And  as  one  means  of  continuing  this  blessing,  let 
us  be  thankful  for  it.  With  glad  song  let  us  look 
upon  the  beauteous  bow  that  spans  the  black  cloud 
that  has  passed  over  us;  the  promise  and  pledge 
that  the  deluge  shall  not  return;  let  us  walk  with 
happy  hearts  amid  the  sunshine  that  has  followed  the 
night  of  storm,  lest  the  clouds  return  after  the 
rain.  Let  us  rejoice  in  peace,  that  white-robed 
angel  with  both  hands  full  of  blessings,  whose  pres- 
ence merits  a  greeting  of  holiest  song.  Peace  that 
beats  swords  into  plough  shares  and  bayonets  into 
pruning  hooks  and  moulds  cannon  into  machinery; 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  267 

that  makes  implements  of  pacific  labor  with  a  glad- 
some rattle.  Peace  that  stops  the  red-rimmed  char- 
iot of  war,  that  rolled  over  gory  fields,  and  starts  the 
wheels  of  creative  industry.  Peace  that  turns  dis- 
banded armies  home,  quenches  the  torch,  sheathes 
the  sword  and  stops  the  march  of  desolation,  and 
through  honored  toil  pours  competency  and  comfort 
into  the  home  of  the  laborer.  Sweet  peace!  How 
numerous  and  rich  are  her  blessings,  covering  fields 
with  harvests,  earth  with  beauty,  and  filling  homes 
with  happiness;  bringing  many  blessings  that  will 
never  come  without  her.  Thank  God  fervently  for 
peace,  and  pray  God  that  it  may  be  continued  in  right- 
eousness. We  ought  to  thank  God  for  the  growth 
of  the  religion  of  Christ  in  our  land.  The  fact  that 
the  law  of  God  and  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
preached  and  taught  so  largely  all  over  our  land  and 
making  conquests  over  the  hearts  of  men,  is  the 
richest  blessing  and  brightest  hope  of  our  country, 
and  cause  for  the  deepest  gratitude.  Yet  some,  even- 
Christian  professors,  are  not  willing  to  admit  this 
statement,  and  even  on  Thanksgiving  can  do  little  but 
croak  and  lament  the  degeneracy  of  these  days!  That 
the  Gospel  makes  little  if  any  progress,  if  it  is  not 
absolutely  losing  ground.  They  remind  us  of  the  late 
terrible  infidel  convention,  which  did  not  resolve  to 
build  and  endow  a  great  leviathan  infidel  university, 
but  they  did  resolve  to  blot  A.  D.  from  all  our  al- 
manacs and  write  E.  M.  instead,  so  that  men  should 
not  be  exposed  to  the  superstition  and  peril  of  reading 
"The  year  of  our  Lord"  any  more,  but  should  read, 
"Era  of  Man."  And  they  are  alarmed  at  the  noise 
of  these  owlets  of  atheism  hooting  through  the  forests 
of  night  and  naturalism!     Thev  will  tell  vou  of  the 


268  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

corruption  and  villainy  that  runs  through  all  official 
ranks,  from  the  Presidency  to  the  cross-roads  post 
office,  and  the  debauchery  of  city  life,  the  number  of 
doggeries  and  brothels  in  New  York  or  some  other 
large  cities,  and  how  lewd  talk  and  blasphemy  pollutes 
•«ven  the  sweet  air  of  mountain  tops,  and  the  Church 
itself  is  leavened  with  hypocrisy,  selfishness  and  scur- 
rility; but  they  do  not  seem  to  see  a  speck  of  blue 
sky  between  the  floating  clouds.  I  am  afraid  their 
liver  is  congested,  and  roasted  turkey  would  be  a 
very  improper  diet  for  them  to-day,  or  their  eyes  are 
jaundiced,  or  their  vision  so  short  that  they  cannot 
see  beyond  their  own  ecclesiastical  yard  fence.  We 
certainly  admit  that  the  millennium  is  not  upon  us, 
l»ut  while  we  recognize  the  truth  of  most,  if  not  all, 
that  is  said  about  the  corruption  and  depravity  of 
the  times,  and  would  have  it  known  that  it  may  be 
removed;  I  would  not  hide  one  ugly  feature  of  the 
foe;  yet  let  us  not  hide  cheering  facts  and  grateful 
progress,  let  us  not  reproach  Divine  power  and 
promises,  and  weaken  Christian  faith  and  effort  by 
croaking,  especially  when  we  have  so  much  cause 
for  joy  and  thanksg'iving,  amid  all  the  depravity 
and  unbelief.  From  a  careful  compiler  of  statistics 
I  gather  the  folowing  facts:  First.  That  the  increase 
in  the  evangelical  churches  in  the  United  States  since 
1800  is  twenty-seven  times  greater  than  the  increase 
of  population.  Then  the  population  of  the  United 
States  from  ten  years  and  upward  was  3.794,000;  pro- 
fessors of  Christ,  350.000.  In  i860,  the  population 
from  ten  upward  was  22,293,000;  professors  of  Christ 
nearly  6,000.000!  Now  our  population  altogether  is 
above  70,000,000;  and  professors  of  Christ  between 
11.000,000  and  20,000,000.     In   1800  it  was  one  to 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  269 

eleven,  now  it  is  about  one  to  four.  Thus  it  is 
seen  that  the  Word  of  God  has  not  been  void,  but  He 
has  given  it  a  Divine  power  and  leavening  influence 
on  the  hearts  of  our  people.  The  Methodist  denomi- 
nation has  built  over  an  average  of  one  church  a 
day  last  year;  some  other  denominations  have  done 
as  much  and  promise  more.  Our  own  branch  of 
Christ's  Church  added  over  50,000;  and  some  others 
more.  Oh,  no;  the  Church  has  no  notion  of  saying 
good  bye,  old  Bible!  While  we  believed  your  teach- 
ings concerning  this  life,  it  led  to  much  happiness 
here,  and  while  we  believed  your  revelations  of  a 
life  to  come,  it  was  a  sunny  hope  and  sweet  com- 
fort in  sickness  and  sorrow,  in  the  death  chamber,, 
and  among  the  graves;  but  we  have  learned  a  bet- 
ter philosophy  of  living  and  your  revelation  is  all  a 
myth.  Goodbye.  Good,  bye,  Jesus  Christ;  you  were 
a  very  lovely  character  to  live  in  such  an  age  as  you 
did,  and  we  once  rested  great  hopes  on  you,  but  if 
there  was  such  a  person  as  you,  we  have  found  out 
you  were  only  a  Jew  and  had  your  day.  Good  bye! 
The  Church  has  less  inclination  to  utter  such  a  male- 
diction to  the  Book  of  God  and  her  Divine  Redeemer 
than  in  any  period  of  her  past  history;  but  she  will 
soon  bid  farewell  forever  to  all  infidel  clubs  and 
Watkins'  Glen  conventions,  and  hear  no  more  of 
them  to  the  end  of  time  unless  some  curious  anti- 
quary should  at  some  future  day  dig  up  their  rotten 
names  as  a  curiosity  of  a  past  age.  The  Bible  teach- 
ing alone  is  the  foundation  of  liberty,  civil  and  re- 
ligious, it  alone  breathes  the  breath  of  liberty  into 
the  human  heart.  Where  no  Bible  is  and  no  Gospel 
preached,  human  freedom  never  was  found  and 
never  will  be;  and  where  liberty  has  been  planted. 


2^0 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


throw  away  the  Bible  or  trample  its  teachings  un- 
der foot,  and  liberty  will  not  be  long  defended  or  con- 
tinue there.  When  a  foreigner  in  England  asked 
Queen  Victoria  what  gave  her  nation  freedom, 
greatness  and  glory,  laying  her  hand  on  the  Bible, 
she  replied,  "The  teachings  of  this  book."  Even 
Herbert  Spencer  admits  that  intelligence  and  men- 
tal culture  are  not  enough  to  secure  the  permanence 
of  a  republic.  It  must  have  moral  culture.  Intel- 
lectual culture  is  only  sharpening  the  razor,  but 
whether  it  shave  the  beard  or  cut  the  throat  depends 
upon  the  moral  character.  And  that  morality  must 
rest  not  only  in  natural  but  revealed  religion.  It  must 
be  Gospel  morality.  The  citizens  of  a  republic  must 
live  under  the  recognition  of  God  above  them,  the 
-principles  of  His  law  in  their  hearts,  and  judgment 
and  eternity  before  them. 

The  essential  foundation  of  a  republic  is  justice 
and  equality  for  every  citizen  before  the  law  of  the 
land,  and  the  responsibility  of  human  government  to 
the  Supreme  Governor  of  the  universe.  And  this 
truth  is  taught  with  authority  only  in  the  Bible.  We 
admit  the  duty  of  expressing  gratitude  for  individual 
blessings,  and  blessings  on  particular  communities 
and  families  and  churches;  the  blessings  on  body, 
soul  and  estate;  for  the  blessings  of  Providence, 
creation  and  grace,  for  the  command  of  the  apostle 
is,  "Give  thanks  unto  God,  the  Father,  for  all  things 
in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  But  how 
impossible  to  enumerate  all  these  things!  When 
the  clouds  are  gathered  densely  over  all  the  heavens 
above  you,  their  fulness  is  opened,  and  the  precious 
drops  are  hastening  down  to  the  needy,  parched 
•earth,  did  you  ever  think  of  standing  in  your  door- 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  27 1 

way  and  trying  to  count  each  pearly  blessing-  as  it 
fell?  Certainly  not — how  impossible!  Or,  as  the 
morning  sun  rode  up  the  eastern  sky  to  pour  a  flood 
of  light  on  the  earth,  did  you  ever  think  of  counting 
the  bright  golden  arrows  that  fell  over  all  your  val- 
leys and  mountains?  Of  course,  you  say  no,  it  would 
be  impossible!  But  neither  of  these  would  be  much 
more  impossible  than  to  enumerate  the  "all  things" 
for  which  we  should  give  thanks  to  God  and  the 
Father.  To  do  this  you  must  count  every  blessing 
that  pours  in  through  every  organ.  Every  glad  sound 
the  ear  can  hear,  every  sweet  and  nutritious  thing 
the  tongue  can  taste,  every  fragrance  borne  to  you 
upon  the  air,  every  beauteous  sight  the  eye  can  see, 
every  delight  and  pleasure  to  which  your  feet  can 
carry  you,  every  blessing  your  hands  can  gather,  and 
that  is  absorbed  through  the  pores  of  the  body!  You 
must  also  enumerate  all  the  happiness  that  can  reach 
you  through  every  organ  of  the  soul;  all  that  reason 
and  intellect  can  impart,  all  that  imagination  can 
create,  all  the  happiness  the  affections  are  capable 
of  enjoying.  You  must  add  to  these  all  friends  and 
relations  can  afford;  all  that  society,  secular  and 
sacred,  social  and  religious,  society  enlightened,  re- 
fined and  regenerated,  can  supply  of  happiness.  But 
more  than  this,  you  must  add  to  all  these  the  count- 
less invaluable  blessings  of  the  covenant  of  grace! 
To  do  this  you  would  have  to  go  back  into  the  past 
eternity,  to  the  fountain  source,  and  follow  the  river 
of  life  through  all  the  cycles  of  time,  and  on  through 
the  eternity  to  come;  you  must  pass  from  eternity 
to  eternity,  then  enlarge  your  heart  as  the  heart  of 
God  to  compass  it  all!  How  impossible!  We  can 
only  exclaim  with  the  Psalmist,  "Earth  is  full  of  Thy 


272 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


goodness,  and  Thy  mercy  is  above  the  heavens."  As 
a  nation,  we  have  abundant  reason  for  gratitude  in 
what  we  can  see  and  tell  and  comprehend.  Oh,  my 
country,  be  glad  and  grateful  to-day,  God  hath  ac- 
cepted thy  sacrifices  and  granted  thee  thy  heart's 
wish!  Then  send  up  an  anthem  of  thanksgiving 
from  sea  and  land,  mountain  and  prairie,  hill  and 
plain,  from  palace  and  hamlet,  from  farm  house  and 
workshop,  from  mechanic  and  merchantman,  from 
soldier  and  sailor,  from  the  paths  of  peace  to  the 
memories  of  war!  Let  the  freedman  join  those  whose 
freedom  is  still  preserved.  Let  the  bereaved  widow 
join  her  who  has  yet  a  husband.  Let  the  nation's 
orphans  join  those  on  their  father's  knee.  Let 
mourners  join  the  comforters.  Let  forests,  fruitful 
trees  and  cedars;  let  rulers  and  judges  of  the  land; 
let  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  young  men  and 
maidens,  old  men  and  children,  let  each  thing  breath- 
ing praise  the  Lord  and  give  Him  thanks,  for  He  is 
good!     Amen  and  amen! 


XVII. 
A  Young  Man's  Strength. 

'^  The  glory  of  yotmg  men  is  their  strength,''''  Proverbs  xx:  29. 

In  the  Vatican  at  Rome  is  a  human  form  carved 
in  marble  with  such  a  noble  expression  of  triumph 
upon  the  face,  such  exquisite  symmetry  of  figure,  such 
an  impression  of  strength  in  the  finely  rounded  mus- 
cular limbs,  such  a  consciousness  of  power,  easy, 
graceful  movement  and  enjoyable  activity  clothing 
the  whole  form,  it  has  been  the  delight  and  admiration 
of  the  world  of  art  for  ages.  One  of  the  first  of  poets 
thus  describes  it: 

"In  his  delicate  form  is  exprest 
All  that  ideal  beauty  ever  blest; 
These   stood   star-Hke   around 
Until  they  gathered  to  a  god." 

So  wrote  Byron  of  the  Apollo  Belvedere,  the  Greek 
divinity  of  grace,  music  and  manly  beauty.  What  is 
this  piece  of  statuary,  the  art  world's  paragon  of 
manly  strength,  but  an  attempt  to  express  in  marble 
the  glory  of  that  strength  which  the  Divine  Artist 
embodied  in  the  creation  of  man?  And,  though  im- 
paired by  the  fall  into  sin,  has  been  transmitted  in  a 
glcry  of  strength  that  is  regal  yet  in  the  prime  of 
young  manhood  to-day.  From  the  smooth,  round, 
ruddy,  soft  and  dimpled  form  of  infancy  this  young 
Apollo  is  twenty  years  in  reaching  his  fullest  perfec- 
tion; twenty  years  growing  under  the  infinitely  skillful 
workman,  in  the  plastic  hand  of  Divine  law  and  care. 


274 


THE  COLD  EN  POT. 


he  attains  full  stature.  The  bones  gradually  lengthen- 
ing and  hardening,  the  muscles  enlarging  and  tough- 
ening, the  tendons,  sinews,  and  every  fibre  growing 
tense  and  strong,  every  nerve  becoming  an  electric 
conductor  of  vital  power,  all  fitly  framed  and  com- 
pacted together  by  that  which  every  joint  supplieth. 
Yet  in  all  its  growth  losing  nothing  of  its  symmetry, 
suppleness  and  grace,  only  clothing  itself  with  the 
glory  of  lithe,  active,  joyous  strength.  When  this 
living  statue,  built  of  flesh,  and  bone,  and  blood,  and 
brawn,  and  nerve,  so  exquisitely  knitted  and  woven, 
and  moulded,  and  compacted  together,  and  fashioned 
into  the  form  of  youthful  manhood  and  strength,  thus 
completed  it  excels  in  grace  of  feature  and  expression 
of  power  any  possible  sculptured  Apollo,  as  far  as 
0ivine  workmanship  excels  the  human. 

The  sculptured  Apollo  is  only  cold,  motionless  mar- 
ble, nothing  more ;  but  this  human  Apollo  is  exuberant 
with  life,  and  becomes  the  real  god  of  the  healing  art, 
eloquence,  poetry,  song  and  music  of  earth,  for 
through  that  marvellous,  magnetic  and  electric  organ 
of  brain  in  the  dome,  the  mind,  more  marvellous  still, 
kindred  to  and  kindled  by  the  eternal  spirit,  immaterial 
and  incomprehensible,  puts  forth  through  the  brain 
a  god-like  strength  that  gathers  heaven  and  earth 
into  its  embrace;  a  power  that  can  weigh,  measure 
and  value  all  matter  and  subdue  it  to  human  will  and 
service  and  conquer  all  below  the  angels;  with  a 
reasoning  power  profounder  than  the  depths  of  the  sea, 
broader  than  the  measure  of  the  earth,  and  in  its 
upreach  higher  than  the  stars;  a  judgment  whose 
edicts  and  decisions  express  his  royalty,  and  a  will 
that  makes  him  a  sceptered  sovereign;  an  imagination 
that  is  a  gorgeous  chamber  of  imagery,  and  a  fancy 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  275 

that  can  sweep  on  tireless  pinions  through  space  as 
winged  angels  might  and  out  of  matter  create  and 
people  invisible  and  immaterial  worlds.  In  addition 
to  all  this,  a  heart  that  is  the  shrine  of  devotion,  the 
palace  home  of  love  and  a  magazine  of  emotions  and 
passions,  good  or  bad,  that  when  moved  as  the  sea 
in  a  storm,  have  a  power  like  that  which  sometimes 
rocks  and  rends  the  globe. 

This,  all  this  power  combined,  the  strength  of  a 
sound,  supple,  symmetrical,  elastic  body,  the  strength 
of  a  clear,  healthful,  disciplined  mind,  incisive  and 
comprehensive  in  reasoning,  a  judgment  calm,  fair 
and  firm  in  decision,  a  will  fixed  and  steadfast  in  pur- 
pose; a  heart  pure  in  its  desires  and  affections,  strong 
in  all  its  emotions  and  passions,  yet  under  motives 
so  high  and  holy  that  earth  cannot  win,  bribe  or 
betray  it;  all  this  strength  of  body,  mind  and  heart 
robes  a  young  man  in  a  radiant  glory  of  strength  that 
is  a  regal  coronet,  a  prize  above  all  price,  which  he 
should  wear  and  glory  in,  and  guard  and  preserve  with 
jealous  vigilance  as  his  most  royal  treasure. 

If  one  should  enter  the  Belvedere  gallery,  and  from 
any  motive  wdiatever  stain,  mar  or  mutilate  that 
marble  Apollo,  he  would  be  denounced  as  a  sacrilegious 
vandal,  and  his  life  would  be  in  danger.  When  this 
beautiful  statue  was  first  discovered  at  Antium,  one 
hand  was  missing,  and  one  arm  imperfect.  This  was 
greatly  lamented  by  artists  as  a  sad  misfortune,  and 
when  the  genius  of  Michael  Angelo's  pupil  restored 
the  mutilated  member,  the  achievement  was  greeted 
with  joyous  expressions  of  applause.  Then  what 
should  be  thought  of  one  who  would  emasculate  or 
mutilate  the  strength  of  young  manhood,  palsy  hand, 
or  tongue,  or  brain,  mar  and  despoil  the  work  of  the 


276  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

Divine  Sculptor?  Yet  there  are  such  human  vandals 
and  demons  among  men  that  they  are  ready  not  only 
to  dim  the  brightness  of  this  glory,  but  utterly  destroy 
all  strength  of  body,  mind  and  soul.  Young  men, 
your  glorious  strength  has  many  foes  standing  ready 
to  devour  it  as  the  dragon  the  man-child  born  of  the 
woman,  clothed  with  the  sun  and  crowned  with  the 
stars. 

There  is  an  army  of  over  one  hundred  and  eighty 
thousand  men  in  this  land,  who  are  armed  and  pro- 
visioned with  a  purpose  to  do  battle  against  your 
strength.  They  expect  to  live  by  devouring  your 
strength,  nay,  more,  they  expect  to  make  their  wealth 
by  consuming  your  strength.  They  have  an  invested 
capital  of  some  seven  hundred  millions  of  dollars! 
This  must  make  some  two  million  dollars  a  day,  and 
they  expect  to  make  a  large  part  of  this  by  bartering 
away  your  strength.  There  are  in  this  land  some  ten 
million  from  fifteen  to  thirty  years  of  age  who  may 
be  called  young  men.  By  seducing  this  multitude  to 
trade  the  strength  of  their  young  manhood  with  them, 
they  hope  to  profitably  use  their  vast  capital  and  live 
and  become  wealthy  on  your  loss.  Other  men  toil 
with  hands  and  brains  or  trade  in  the  fruits,  forests, 
harvests  or  minerals  of  earth  or  animal  life  to  make 
their  wealth,  but  this  army  of  one  hundred  and  eighty 
thousand  drunkard  makers  live  and  gather  lucre  only 
by  devouring  human  strength  and  life,  with  no  com- 
pensation to  the  victims.  Be  sure  you  cannot  saturate 
blood,  brain,  muscle  and  marrow  in  a  solution  of 
alcohol  and  not  destroy  brawn,  brain,  nerve  and  sinew. 
You  might  as  well  soak  the  ropes  of  a  sailing  vessel 
in  nitric  acid  and  hope  to  sail  safely  over  stormy  seas. 
But  it  eats  up  not  only  bodily  strength,  but  that  of 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


277 


mind  and  heart  also.  This  is  the  foe  which  Shake- 
speare says  "men  put  into  their  mouths  to  steal  away 
their  brains." 

Under  the  kindling  of  the  intoxicant,  the  m.ental 
powers  may  appear  to  display  a  glorious  brilliancy 
for  a  time,  but  like  fuel  upon  which  oil  is  poured, 
only  burns  fiercely  to  die  the  sooner  and  utterly 
leave  the  sodden  brain  paralyzed  and  the  heart  turned 
to  stone. 

Other  foes  to  your  strength  are  the  Jezebel  painted 
faces  that  look  out  of  the  windows,  and  the  siren  voices 
of  unholy  love  that  sing  the  song  of  death  in  your  ears. 
This  fills  the  bones  of  youth  with  corroding  sin,  and 
"a  lire  not  blown  that  consumeth  to  destruction." 
Says  Solomon,  "None  that  go  unto  her  return  again, 
neither  take  they  hold  of  the  paths  of  life;  her  feet 
go  down  to  death  and  her  steps  take  hold  on  hell." 
Gambling  in  all  its  forms  and  ways,  from  the  toss  of 
the  copper  and  dice  to  faro  and  Wall  Street  stocks, 
and  futures,  are  foes  to  your  strength.  Because  its 
unhealthy  and  unholy  excitements  consume  marrow 
and  morals  and  all  vitality  of  body  and  soul;  so  does 
all  business  pursued  in  the  spirit  and  ways  of  gam- 
bling. A  writer  has  truly  said:  "At  one  side  of  the 
gaming  table  sits  Romance,  Enthusiasm  and  Ecstacy, 
and  on  the  other  Fierceness,  Rage  and  Tumult." 
And  he  might  have  added:  Desperation  and  Death. 
Did  time  permit,  it  would  be  impossible  to  enumerate 
all  the  foes  of  your  strength.  Error  and  falsehood 
in  every  form  and  on  every  subject  are  enemies  to 
be  dreaded.  Physical,  intellectual  and  moral  error; 
ignorance  of  your  body's  nature,  laws  and  needs,  also 
of  mind  and  soul;  philosophical  and  scientific  false- 
hood: error  concerning  God  and  man.  sin  and  holiness, 
right  and  wrong,  heaven  and  hell,  all  are  foes. 


2/8  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

As  surely  as  poisonous  food  is  hurtful  to  bodily- 
strength,  so  error  on  any  subject  is  to  mental,  moral 
and  spiritual  strength  and  health.  Therefore  this 
glory  may  be  imperiled  by  what  you  read,  or  hear 
spoken,  or  in  any  way  receive  into  the  thought  and 
heart.  Young  man,  your  daily  life  is  the  immortal 
dreamer's  "Siege  of  Man-Soul"  carried  on  every  day. 
And  the  multitude  of  foes  that  assault  Mouth  Gate, 
Eye  Gate,  Ear  Gate,  and  every  possible  way  of  en- 
trance to  the  citadel  of  life,  are  almost  numberless; 
they  seem  to  swarm  in  through  the  very  pores !  Along 
almost  every  street  of  every  city  of  the  land  they  lurk 
and  ambush  in  gin-houses,  picture  galleries,  theatres 
and  gaming  halls.  To  the  ear  comes  blasphemy  and 
obscenity,  to  the  eye  folly  and  gilded  and  painted  lust, 
to  the  tongue  poison.  What  is  called  nude  art  in 
painting  and  statuary  makes  most  of  our  galleries, 
and  even  some  so-called  Christian  homes,  perilous 
by  foul  suggestions  and  debasing  fancies.  Christian- 
ity has  no  quarrel  with  the  fine  arts  that  teach,  elevate 
and  purify,  but  the  conceptions  and  expressions  of 
some  sculptors  and  painters  seen  in  galleries  and  pri- 
vate houses  are  simply  an  abomination  unworthy  of 
a  heathen  age.  It  is  a  shame  to  the  Christian  civili- 
zation of  this  century  that  to  walk  the  streets  of  our 
cities  is  more  dangerous  to  our  sons  and  daughters 
than  to  run  an  Indian  gauntlet. 

Against  all  these  the  siege  of  Man-Soul  might  be 
sustained  if  there  was  no  treason  within.  Of  all  the 
besieged  cities  of  which  history  gives  us  record,  very 
few  fell  by  outside  assault  alone.  Babylon  fell  by 
debauchery  and  drunkenness  within;  Rome  was  be- 
trayed, and  Jerusalem  fell  through  riot  and  murder 
within.     Every  young  man  is  conscious  of  this  truth 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  279 

that  he  has  a  wayward  desire,  an  inborn  curiosity 
of  life  and  kist,  a  something  continually  inclined  to 
open  the  gate  to  the  tempting  besiegers  without.  We 
call  it  native  depravity,  and  it  gives  the  besiegers 
fearful  odds  against  your  strength.  If  you  could  mass, 
and  count  and  measure  the  power  of  all  your  foes, 
you  would  feel  the  need  of  sleepless  vigilance,  lest  they 
rob  you  of  this  glorious  robe  and  crown  of  your  man- 
hood. Neither  does  the  Church,  I  think,  do  all  she 
might  to  help  young  men  against  their  foes.  Young 
men  who  are  among  strangers,  away  from  under  the 
pure  influences  of  home,  parents,  sisters.  Christian 
friends,  good  society,  intellectual  tastes,  and  church 
opportunities,  are  in  a  special  manner  exposed,  un- 
armed, to  their  foes.  And  if,  with  all  helps  surround- 
ing them,  so  many  young  men  fall,  like  shorn  Sam- 
sons, to  grind  as  blind  captives  in  the  prison  house, 
or  make  sport  in  the  temple  of  Dagon,  how  great  must 
be  the  peril  of  those  away  from  all  these  strong  friends 
and  helpers,  who,  when  freed  from  toil,  are  tortured 
with  a  loneliness  and  restlessness  that  they  know  not 
how  to  comfort  or  satisfy!  These  ought  to  have  the 
Church's  tenderest  sympathy  and  constant  care.  The 
churches  ought  to  be  so  arranged,  equipped  and  sup- 
plied that  they  could  be  opened  every  day  and  evening 
of  the  year,  and  made  a  resting,  reading,  instructive 
and  social  place,  as  well  as  a  devotional  place  for  the 
vounsf.  Then  we  might  not  have  so  much  need  for 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations;  but  as  this 
is  not  so,  then  build  homes  for  these  Associations  of 
their  own.  so  furnished,  equipped  and  beautified  they 
will  be  more  attractive  and  enjoyable  than  the  glitter- 
ing fascinations  that  tempt  young  men  without.  Al- 
toona  can  lighten  her  taxes,  enhance  the  security  of  all 


28o  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

her  possessions,  promote  the  peace,  purity  and  enjoy- 
ment of  her  society,  commend  herself  to  the  Christian, 
world,  and  honor  her  name,  by  putting  fifty  thousand 
dollars  into  such  an  association  building.  Save  these 
young  men,  whose  glory  is  their  strength,  at  whatever 
cost  of  money  or  effort.  Save  them  from  the  foes  that 
would  rob  themselves,  and  our  country  and  heaven  o£ 
the  glorious  strength  of  their  manhood.  Romancers 
and  travellers  tell  us,  as  if  it  was  a  great  misfortune, 
that  we  have  no  grand,  costly  old  ruins  in  our  country. 
Then  they  will  describe  some  crumbling  temple  or 
ancient  castle  of  Asia  or  Europe,  where  the  keep  is. 
broken  down,  the  moat  empty  and  dry,  the  garden 
overgrown  with  weeds,  the  stone  and  marble  columns 
and  walls  rent  and  crumbling,  the  roof  fallen  in,  the 
costly  carving,  fresco,  statuary  and  paintings,  stained 
and  molded  by  the  storms  of  snow  and  rain  beating 
upon  them;  the  great  halls  and  grand  stairways,  only 
a  habitation  for  owls  and  bats!  And  they  exclaim, 
what  a  melancholy  and  costly  ruin!  Truly,  we  have 
no  such  old  ruins,  but,  alas!  we  have  thousands  of 
young  ruins,  infinitely  sadder  and  more  costly  than 
any  of  these.  The  once  athletic,  manly,  graceful  form 
of  strength  shorn  of  all  its  glory.  The  bones  crum- 
bling with  cancerous  sin,  the  muscles  shrunken  and 
flabby,  the  sinews,  nerves  and  tendons  flaccid  and 
feeble,  like  cords  eaten  by  corrosive  acid;  the  once 
ruddy  face  a  bloodless  pallor,  or  the  hue  of  faded 
parchment;  the  mind  sodden,  delirious  or  imbecile; 
reason,  judgment  and  will  deposed  kings  and  helpless 
captives;  the  affections  polluted  and  vile,  the  heart 
like  a  cage  of  every  unclean  and  hateful  bird!  The 
man  an  uncrowned,  unsceptered,  deposed  king,  a 
tottering  maudlin  invalid,  not  from  age,  but  sinful. 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  281 

premature  senility;  a  physical,  mental,  moral  and 
eternal  ruin!  All  the  ruins  buried  in  the  plains  of 
Babylon  or  under  the  walls  of  Karnac  and  Thebes, 
or  crumbling  along  the  shores  of  Egypt,  or  over  the 
lands  of  Europe,  will  not  equal  in  sadness  and  costli- 
ness one  such  as  this. 

If  one  should  mutilate  or  dash  in  fragments  ten 
thousand  marble  Apollos  and  all  the  columns  of  Per- 
sepalos,  he  would  be  guilty  of  no  such  vandalism  as 
one  who  despoils  a  young  man  of  his  glorious 
strength!  Young  man,  however  you  may  glory  in 
your  strength  and  however  great  your  real  strength 
may  be,  be  assured  you  will  never  be  able  to  meet  and 
defeat  all  your  foes  alone.  And  chiefly  because  of 
the  inborn  evil  propensity  to  open  the  doors  to  vour 
enemies  from  without.  What  we  call  native  deprav- 
ity, the  corruption  of  your  nature,  is  a  traitorous  weak- 
ness, that  puts  your  greatest  strength  in  constant  peril. 
No  use  to  deny  this  truth.  Every  man  who  has  any 
true  knowledge  of  himself  is  conscious  of  it,  and  knows, 
he  is  in  danger  of  yielding  to  it  any  moment. 

I  was  told  that  John  B.  Gough,  when  he  first  signed 
the  pledge,  and  promised  to  enter  the  lecture  field 
against  intemperance,  was  so  conscious  of  his  weak- 
ness he  was  afraid  to  start  alone.  A  faithful  friend 
was  secured  to  go  with  him.  and  remain  with  him 
constantly.  That  friend  kept  close  to  him  for  years, 
wherever  he  went  through  this  country,  and  went  with 
him  all  over  England.  Whenever  he  was  going  to 
a  dangerous  place,  he  warned  him.  When  the  in- 
satiable, over-mastering  appetite  came  upon  him  with 
power,  this  friend  reminded  him  of  the  demons  that 
gloated  over  him  in  his  delirium,  of  the  horrid,  bot- 
tomless abyss  into  which  they  would  plunge  him;  of 


282  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

his  mother,  wife,  home  and  friends,  and  their  hope  of 
him,  and  the  bright  and  heavenly  hght  and  happiness 
that  opened  a  radiant  pathway  before  and  above  him. 
Thus  he  strengthened  the  weakness  of  the  man,  until 
he  was  able  to  walk  his  way  alone,  in  victorious  free- 
dom for  years  on  earth,  and  die  with  the  full  liberty 
and  honor  of  the  sons  of  God. 

Now,  whether  you  have  the  drunkard's  weakness 
or  not,  you  have  another  more  subtle,  treacherous 
and  mighty,  that  is,  the  sinful  corruption  of  your 
nature,  against  which  you  need  the  help  of  a  constant 
friend  that  sticketh  closer  than  a  brother.  Such  an 
one  is  provided  in  Hmi  who  has  become  an  elder 
brother  and  kinsman  to  the  sons  of  men.  Take  the 
Son  of  God,  Jesvis  Christ,  the  ever-present  Friend, 
into  your  heart  and  life-fellowship  on  the  journey. 
Then,  when  you  are  in  danger,  through  His  Word 
and  Spirit  He  will  warn  you  when  temptation  assails 
you  in  power,  and  "the  enemy  comes  like  a  flood," 
He  will  lift  up  a  standard  against  him,  as  He  reminds 
you  how  gloating  fiends,  in  the  day  of  your  hopeless- 
ness or  remorse,  triumphed  in  your  ruin,  and  of  the 
bottomless  pit  of  despair  and  death  into  which  they 
would  plunge  you,  and  recalls  to  you  the  love  for  you 
and  hope  in  you  of  your  mother,  wife,  children  and 
friends,  and  points  you  to  an  upward  shining  pathway, 
that  grows  brighter  and  brighter  until  lost  in  the  glory 
of  His  presence  whose  full  radiance  swallows  all  in- 
ferior light,  as  the  sun  does  the  Hght  of  the  stars;  in 
every  infinitely  wise  way  He  will  guide  you  and  guard 
you,  and  gird  you  with  strength,  and  cheer  and  glad- 
den you  as  no  mere  human  and  earthly  friend  could 
do.  for  He  will  put  omnipotent  and  everlasting  arms 
underneath  and  around  you,  until  you  are  able  to  walk 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  283 

in  the  manliest,  noblest  freedom  of  earth.  Then  when 
toil  and  sickness  and  age  waste  all  your  present  life- 
strength,  as  they  surely  will,  still  you  can  accept  with 
cheerfulness  the  loss,  and  sing  in  assured  hope  that 
you  shall  glory  forever  in  the  strength  of  an  eternal 
youth ! 


XVIIL 
The  Devil's  Plea. 

"Zf/  us  a/ofie,'^  Luke  iv:  34. 

The  witnesses  of  that  day  were  amazed  at  this  mir- 
acle, saying,  "What  a  word  is  this?"  If  such  a  work 
were  done  in  presence  of  the  skeptics  of  to-day  they 
would  perhaps  be  astonished  and  admit  there  might 
be  something  of  supernatural  power  in  the  work;  yet 
they  are  neither  astonished  nor  convinced  by  greater 
works  the  Lord  is  doing  every  day,  in  casting  the 
demon  of  drunkenness,  lust,  pride,  cruelty  and  sin  out 
of  the  souls  of  men — greater  proof  of  His  power  and 
grace  than  casting  demons  out  of  human  bodies.  It 
is  a  far  greater  miracle  to  pardon  a  guilty  soul,  en- 
lighten it,  renew  it,  transform  and  purify  it,  than  to 
deliver  the  body  of  any  evil  that  possesses  it,  and  this 
the  Lord  Jesus  is  doing  every  day  against  the  will  of 
the  possessed  soul. 

How  did  this  demon  treat  Christ,  and  how  did  Christ 
treat  this  demon?  Did  the  demon  use  the  man's 
bodily  organs,  talk  with  the  man's  tongue?  If  so,  was 
the  man  responsible  for  what  the  devil  did  with  his 
organs,  spoke  with  his  tongue?  Such  questions  I  do 
not  propose  to  answer,  but  to  use  this  person  as  rep- 
resenting the  sinner  possessed  of  to-day,  and  what  He 
did  for  that  victim  He  does  for  those  tormented  by 
the  devil  of  sin  now. 

This  devil  rebelled  at  Christ's  command  and  work, 
saying,  "Let  us  alone."  Apparently  they  do  not  ask 
much.     But  don't  they?     Let  us  work  our  will  with 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  285 

this  man,  whatever  misery  and  ruin  he  may  suffer.  In 
saying,  "Let  us  alone,"  they  virtually  say,  "And  we 
will  let  you  alone."  This  was  not  true;  they  were  not 
then  letting  Christ  alone.  So,  to-day,  Christ,  in  His 
Word,  and  His  teachers  and  preachers  and  disciples, 
comes  to  the  possessed  by  the  demon  of  sin  and  offers 
to  cast  the  evil  out,  but  they  resist  as  this  devil  did 
and  say,  "Let  us  alone." 

First.  The  dram-seller  says,  "Let  us  alone.  Mind 
your  own  business;  you  may  sell  wheat,  or  shoes,  or 
corn,  or  preach,  do  what  you  please,  we  won't  meddle 
with  you.  We  do  not  ask  you  to  go  into  our  business 
nor  be  responsible  for  it.  Why  should  you  meddle 
with  us?  If  your  religion  makes  you  meddlers  as 
well  as  hypocrites,  it  is  a  poor  product  and  no  recom- 
mendation. All  we  ask  is  to  be  let  alone,  and  every- 
one has  a  right  to  demand  that,  in  justice.  Mind 
your  own  business  is  just  as  good  law  as  one  of  your 
ten  commandments." 

Second.  The  dram-drinkers  and  drunkards  say, 
"Let  us  alone.  You  need  not  drink  if  you  don't  want 
to.  We  will  not  compel  you  to  drink.  By  what  right 
can  you  compel  us  to  quit?  You  might  as  well 
compel  us  to  eat  certain  food  and  wear  certain  clothes, 
or  forbid  us  food  and  clothes  altogether!  How  does 
it  come  to  be  your  business  what  we  drink  or  when 
or  how  much?  It  don't  hurt  you.  Even  if  we  see 
fit  to  get  drunk,  and,  as  you  say,  burn  our  bodies 
and  souls  and  go  to  hell,  it  is  none  of  your  business. 
We  do  not  ask  you  to  go  with  us.     Let  us  alone." 

Third.  The  Turk  says,  "Let  us  alone.  We  are  bet- 
ter than  you.  We  have  not  the  thousands  of  grog 
shops  and  drunkards  in  our  land,  like  England  and 
Germany  and  America.     If  we  have  to  chastise  our 


286  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

Armenian  subjects,  it  is  none  of  your  business.  We 
know  best  what  they  deserve,  and  what  is  needed  to 
subdue  and  control  them.  And  you  had  better  mind 
your  own  business — it  will  cost  you  less  and  be  more 
profitable." 

Fourth.  The  Spaniard  and  the  Spanish  government 
say,  "Let  us  alone.  We  discovered  Cuba  and  have 
ruled  it  for  four  hundred  years,  and  if  we  see  fit  to 
chastise  its  rebellion  and  rob  it  and  starve  its  people 
and  flay  them  all,  and  leave  the  island  a  habitless  ruin, 
it  is  none  of  your  business — they  are  our  subjects.  The 
commandments  forbid  you  to  covet  or  steal,  yet  you 
want  to  steal  our  island!  We  only  ask  you  to  let 
us  alone." 

Fifth.  Great  railroad  and  manufacturing  corpora- 
tions, and  all  Sabbath  breakers,  say,  "Let  us  alone. 
If  we  wish  to  operate  our  mills  or  run  our  trains  on 
the  Sabbath,  it  is  none  of  your  business.  We  do  not 
compel  nor  ask  you  to  ride  on  the  trains.  We  are 
big  enough  to  take  care  of  ourselves.  If  you  do 
not  want  to  be  squelched  and  exterminated,  do  not 
be  impertinent  and  meddlesome.  The  tortoise  cannot 
contend  wdth  the  elephant;  if  the  elephant  should  but 
set  its  foot  on  the  tortoise,  it  would  only  have  breadth 
and  no  thickness.  The  mouse  cannot  fight  with  the 
lion;  after  one  stroke  of  his  paw  or  snap  of  his  jaw 
there  would  be  no  mouse.  It  would  be  better  not 
to  meddle." 

Sixth.  The  devil,  through  many  human  lips,  says, 
"Let  the  heathen  alone.  They  prefer  their  religion, 
they  think  it  best  for  them,  and  perhaps  it  is.  They 
enjoy  their  polygamy  and  harems,  and  their  way  of 
worship  and  living.  You  are  only  disturbing  them 
and  sowing  strife  among  them  and  making  trouble 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  287 

in  their  homes.  What  right  have  you  to  destroy  their 
religion,  any  more  than  they  have  to  destroy  yours? 
Let  them  alone!" 

Seventh.  The  devil  that  is  in  every  sinning  soul 
makes  the  same  plea,  "Let  us  alone.  If  we  prefer  to 
continue  in  sin,  it's  none  of  your  business,  you  are 
not  responsible.  Is  it  any  of  your  business  what  we 
make  our  pleasures  and  when  we  practice  them?  Or 
whether  we  pray  or  pay  any  attention  to  either  law  or 
Gospel?  Who  gave  you  any  right  to  come  to  us  per- 
sonally or  to  our  homes  or  places  of  business  to  re- 
prove us  and  exhort  us  and  beg  us  to  repent  and 
believe  your  teaching?  Are  we  not  free?  Have  we 
not  a  right  to  do  as  we  please?  Let  us  alone."  This 
is  the  devil's  plea  round  the  whole  circle  of  self- 
oppressors,  and  oppressors  of  others,  evil-doers,  sinful 
and  imperilled  souls,  all  over  the  earth.  This  plea, 
or  demand,  we  must  refuse  for  the  following  reasons: 

1st.  The  teachers  and  preachers  and  disciples  of  the 
Lord  either  represent  and  serve  Jesus  Christ,  or  they 
do  not.  If  they  do,  then  it  is  to  this  Lord  of  the  whole 
earth  and  Redeemer  of  men  that  those  we  have  men- 
tioned, and  all  rebellious  subjects,  are  replying,  "Let 
us  alone."  The  teachers,  ministers  and  disciples  are 
only  ambassadors  and  servants  of  this  supreme  Lord, 
and  the  charge  of  intermeddling  and  impertinence 
they  can  without  fear  turn  over  to  Him,  and  He  will 
answer  for  them.  These  devils  in  men,  and  mighty 
corporations,  are  not  fighting  a  tortoise  or  a  mouse, 
but  omnipotent  justice,  and  this  conquering  King  is 
not  paling  His  face  in  the  presence  of  elephant  or  lion. 
He  is  able  to  take  care  of  His  law,  authority  and 
honor,  when  these  are  invaded  and  insulted.  In  the 
case  now  before  us,  He  refused  the  plea.     Why?     Be- 


2S8  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

<:ause  this  devil  was  not  letting  the  Lord  Jesus  alone. 
The  human  being  this  devil  had  taken  possession  of 
was,  body  and  soul,  the  property  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
and  the  devil  was  trying  to  steal  it.  This  the  Lord 
could  not  permit  and  keep  His  honor,  truth  and 
rights.  Yet  this  is  the  impudent  demand  of  many 
human  beings  whom  the  devil  possesses  to-day. 
While  in  the  very  act  of  stealing  the  Lord's  day,  prop- 
erty and  honor  and  every  human  right,  they  cry  out, 
"Let  us  alone.     We  are  not  hurting  you!" 

Again,  the  devils  were  making  a  human  being 
wretched  in  body  and  soul,  and  helpless  and  miserable 
for  all  eternity.  This  Jesus  could  not  permit,  because 
He  loved  human  beings,  as  their  Creator,  and  espe- 
cially as  their  Redeemer.  He  will  not  let  devils  nor 
men  alone  who  are  making  others  miserable.  Whether 
human  beings  are  making  themselves  miserable  and 
hopeless,  or  making  others  so,  or  are  made  so  by 
devils,  the  Lord  Jesus,  because  of  His  love  and  justice, 
will  not  let  them  alone.  Yet  to-day  many  devils,  in 
the  form  of  human  beings,  both  men  and  women,  are 
making  themselves  and  others  unutterably  wretched 
and  hopeless,  and  are  crying  out,  "Let  us  alone. 
What  right  have  you  to  meddle  with  us!"  But  no 
man  or  woman  can  be  like  Christ,  and  act  like  Christ, 
and  let  them  alone.  We,  as  Christians  and  servants 
of  Christ,  cannot  let  the  liquor  sellers  alone,  because 
they  will  not  let  us  alone.  Will  they  let  your  sons, 
sons-in-law,  or  even  your  daughters,  alone?  In  their 
very  childhood,  by  liquor-loaded  candies  and  every 
other  Satanic  device,  they  will  create  an  appetite  that 
will  lead  them  to  the  saloon,  and  there  despoil  them, 
tody  and  soul.  They  will  rob  your  daughter  of  her 
liusband  and  drive  her  and  her  children,  ragged  and 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  289 

hungry,  from  their  home's  shelter,  with  no  more 
compunction  than  a  wolf.  They  are  piling  on  us 
police  costs,  and  court  costs,  and  jail  costs,  and  peni- 
tentiary costs,  and  poor-house  costs,  far  exceeding 
all  the  revenue  they  ever  paid.  They  are  robbing 
the  Lord  and  the  earth  of  some  of  the  grandest  bodies 
and  souls  of  the  human  race.  They  are  murdering 
and  burying  in  dishonored,  hopeless  graves,  sixty 
thousand  a  year.  Even  the  Turk  can  make  us  blush. 
A  book  has  been  written  by  a  Turk,  now  translated 
into  English,  in  which  the  author  argues,  "Even  if 
it  were  true  that  they  had  slain  fifty  thousand  Ar- 
menians in  a  year,  American  and  English  saloons  have 
slain  more  than  one  hundred  thousand,  which  is  some- 
thing the  Turkish  government  never  did,  for  it  pro- 
hibits saloons."  With  shame  we  have  to  admit  the 
indictment.  If  the  Turkish  government  can  prohibit 
drinking  saloons,  why  cannot  the  great  American 
republic?  Or  if  Mohammedanism  can  suppress  in- 
toxicating drinking  and  drunkenness,  why  cannot 
Christianity?  This  traffic  is  guilty  of  greater  robbery 
and  causes  more  misery  and  death  than  war.  In 
camp  and  battle  we  mass  and  count  our  dead,  killed 
and  lost,  but  by  this  traffic  they  are  falling  by  the 
wayside,  on  the  streets,  and  in  homes,  all  over  the 
land,  by  one  and  twos  uncounted,  but  in  the  aggregate 
count  more  than  any  year  of  our  great  rebellion  on 
battle  fields!  This  trafific  will  never  let  Christ  and 
His  followers  alone,  and  they  can  never  let  it  alone 
until  it  is  abolished. 

We  cannot  let  the  dram-drinkers  and  drunkards 
alone.  They  are  robbing  Church  and  State  of  both 
body  and  soul  service,  to  which  both  Church  and  State 
have  a  right.     They  are  robbing  the  Lord  of  all  His 


290 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


rights  in  body  and  soul.  They  are  making  women 
and  children  by  thousands  paupers  and  untold  suf- 
ferers, and  we  have  to  pay  for  keeping  these  thousands 
from  starving  and  freezing,  whether  in  the  poor-house 
or  out  of  it.  They  are  disturbing  the  peace  and 
rest  of  families  and  society,  day  and  night,  and  im- 
periling business  in  all  its  channels.  And  it  is  no  im- 
pudence or  infringement  of  personal  liberty  to  pro- 
hibit their  drinking  and  drunkenness.  They  rob  and 
hurt  themselves  and  us  and  thousands  of  others,  and 
we  cannot  do  right  and  duty  and  let  them  alone.  As 
teachers,  ambassadors  and  servants  of  Christ,  we 
cannot  let  Sabbath  breakers,  violators  of  Sabbath 
law,  alone,  whether  they  are  railroads,  manufacturers 
or  individuals,  because  they  are  either  transgressing 
God's  law,  or  they  are  not.  If  they  are,  they  are 
ofifending  and  dishonoring  God  and  robbing  laborers 
of  their  right  to  rest,  religious  knowledge  and  worship, 
and  exposing  many  to  righteous.  Divine  wrath.  As 
ambassadors  and  servants,  we  must,  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord  and  Law-giver,  testify  and  protest  against 
this  breach  of  the  Lord's  law  and  wrong  done  to  men. 
We  claim  no  power,  no  right,  to  execute  law — to  the 
Law-giver  belongs  the  right  and  power  of  execution, 
as  to  time  and  manner.  But  be  assured,  as  to  time 
and  way  He  will  exact  justice  for  transgression. 

In  the  case  in  the  text.  He  turned  these  devils  out 
of  possession.  So  Lie  will  turn  the  disobedient, 
imjust  and  cruel  out  of  possession,  sooner  or  later. 
AVe  cannot  cast  out  devils,  but  we  can  do  our  duty 
by  warning.testimony  and  teaching,  and  through  these 
He  has  promised  to  put  forth  the  hand  of  Divine 
power,  do  the  work  and  vindicate  His  law  and  Gospel. 
The  servants  of  Christ  in  no  land  can  let  the  unspeak- 


THE  GOLDEN  POT. 


291 


able  Turkish  assassin  and  the  brutal  Spaniard  alone. 
A  long  time  ago,  when  Cain  murdered  Abel,  and  God 
called  him  to  account,  the  brazen-faced  fratricide 
coolly  said  he  was  not  his  brother's  keeper!  The 
Almighty  Judge  decided  that  he  was,  and  pronounced 
sentence  against  him. 

These  Armenians,  Cubans  and  Philippines  are 
brothers  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  His  humanity, 
and  our  brothers  in  humanity,  and  we  cannot  be  right 
in  the  Lord's  sight  and  let  them  alone.  Some  have 
said,  "Shall  we  give  our  noble  sons  and  countrymen 
to  the  death  for  such  creatures  as  inhabit  those 
islands?"  Some  forty  years  ago  the  expression  was 
heard,  "We  will  not  give  our  sons  to  die  for  'niggers!'  " 
But  they  did,  willing  or  unwilling,  by  the  thousands. 
We  must  learn,  whether  by  precept  or  judgment,  that 
the  human  race  is  a  unit  in  humanity  and  rights. 
What  aggravates  the  Spanish  case  is  that  they  have 
been  doing  their  inhuman,  cruel,  devilish  work  in 
His  name.  Bob  Ingersoll  says,  "The  Spanish  are  so 
cruel  because  they  are  so  religious."  I  admit  that 
the  religion  of  Sunday  Spanish  bull  fights,  that, 
according  to  statistics,  kills  five  thousand  horses  and 
one  thousand  two  hundred  bulls  every  year  (the 
number  of  men  killed  is  not  stated— they  are  not  so  valu- 
able!)— I  certainly  admit  that  this  is  a  cruel  religion, 
and  tliat  they  are  very  religious.  In  the  last  four 
hundred  years,  under  the  cross,  they  have  reddened 
almost  every  sea  with  blood,  and  by  hundreds  of 
thousands  filled  graves  on  every  continent  of  earth. 
Yes,  they  are  very  religious! 

In  our  text,  Christ  bade  devils  to  keep  silence  and 
not  say  that  they  knew  Him.  He  refuses  to  be 
acknowledged  by  devils  in  any  form,  human  or  satanic. 


292  THE  GOLDEN  POT. 

We  cannot  let  them  alone  to  do  their  inhuman  work 
in  the  name  of  Christianity.  It  is  a  most  heinous, 
insult  to  the  Lord  Christ.  We  cannot  let  the  heathen 
alone.  They  are  part  of  the  race  for  which  Jesus  died. 
They  will  not  let  us  alone.  The  Lord  has  committed 
them  to  the  Church  as  a  charge,  saying,  "Go,  and 
preach  the  Gospel  to  them,  because  they  are  brethren 
in  humanity,  and  godless  and  hopeless.  However 
much  they  may  like  their  own  religions,  harems,  poly- 
gamy and  superstitions;  however  much  they  may 
be  set  one  against  another,  the  mother  against  the 
daughter,  the  mother-in-law  against  the  daughter-in- 
law,  and  the  man's  own  household  made  his  foes,  by 
the  preaching  of  the  Gospel — this  is  the  sword  I  came 
to  send  on  the  earth.  You  know  they  are  possessed 
and  tormented  and  without  God  and  without  hope 
in  the  world,  and  if  you  would  obey  Me  and  extend 
My  kingdom  and  secure  a  blessing  to  yourselves  at 
home,  you  cannot  let  them  alone.  They  will  not  let 
you  alone.  To  withhold  My  Gospel  from  them  is  to 
narrow  and  impoverish  your  own  souls  in  selfishness 
and  idolatrous  avarice.  Go  and  pour  the  light  of 
truth  upon  their  misery  and  vileness,  and  teach  My 
Gospel  of  power,  grace  and  love,  and  I  will  give  them 
hope  and  peace  and  life  and  happiness,  and  enrich  you 
with  Divine,  reviving  grace  and  joy.  Do  not  let  them 
alone."  There  is  not  a  personal  unbeliever  nor  sinner 
on  earth  the  servants  of  Christ  dare  let  alone.  Our 
present  safety,  peace  and  welfare  forbid  it.  Who  are 
bringing  into  the  world  and  training  the  criminal 
classes,  that  are  costing  us  so  much  and  putting  our 
most  valued  interests,  national,  social,  moral  and 
religious,  in  peril?  Who  are  filling  streets  and  homes 
with  children  and  youth,  preparing  them  for  your 


THE  GOLDEN  POT.  295 

reformatories,  jails,  prisons,  almshouses,  and  eventu- 
ally for  a  hopeless  hell,  and  now  inoculating  society 
with  moral  diseases  more  hurtful  and  deadly  than 
any  physical  pestilence?  Who?  The  unbelieving, 
godless,  sin-loving,  and  sin-living.  And  we  know 
their  guilt,  and  peril,  and  doom,  and  if  we  have  the 
spirit  of  Christ,  the  Spirit  of  Divine  love,  we  cannot 
let  them  alone.  They  may  call  us  impertinent  and 
meddling,  yet  however  they  resist,  we  cannot  let  them 
alone.  As  Christ  said  of  those  who  crucified  Him, 
"They  know  not  what  they  do;"  so  it  may  be  true 
of  these. 

But  in  spite  of  all  opposition,  we  must  teach,  exhort, 
persuade  and  pray,  as  the  means  of  bringing  Christ's 
power  to  dispossess  and  save  them.  We  have  no 
power  of  ourselves,  we  cannot  compel  either  devils 
or  men;  we  cannot  by  force  of  law  cast  out  the  devils 
of  Sabbath  breaking,  lust  or  drunkenness.  Our  power 
all  lies  in  the  might  of  the  truths  we  teach,  the  resist- 
less force  of  the  Divine  love  we  reveal  and  manifest. 
Our  power  as  teachers,  ministers  and  servants  of 
Christ  is  all  moral  and  spiritual.  But  if  we  speak  His 
truth  in  love,  testify,  exhort  and  pray  in  all  fearless 
faithfulness,  in  true  humility  and  kindness,  through 
this  channel  He  will  send  His  Divine  power  and  do 
the  work,  and  sinful  souls  will  either  in  justice  be 
condemned,  or  by  Divine  power  dispossessed  and 
saved,  to  the  endless  glory  of  our  Lord's  righteous- 
ness, holiness  and  grace. 


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